Sonic and the Power of the Wisps
by Tashasaurous
Summary: AU: *SPOILERS ALERT* Sequel to "Sonic and the Werehog"-Two months after the defeat of Dark Gaia, Sonic and his best friend Tails are off for another adventure. This time exploring Dr. Eggman's Intersteller Amusement Park, and encounter friendly aliens along the way. But as Sonic investigates, he also must cope with his own inner turmoil; scars from his last adventure.
1. Chapter 1: Tropical Trouble

_**Sonic and the Power of the Wisps.**_

**Author's Note: I know that I should be finishing Sonic and the Werehog(and my other stories) but once again writer's block hit and I found that(despite the voices in the game, even though Sonic's current voice-not counting the movie-isn't too bad from Jason Griffith(who I like better, but that's me), are a bit questionable, especially Tails' voice) I actually enjoyed Sonic Colours a little more than Unleashed and the desire to start on this lead me to this point.**

**So yeah, this happens to me all the time. Anyway, welcome to another fanfic story and my second full on Sonic story. This will be a mixture of the game, Sonic X anime, and the short comic story...at least this chapter will for the latter part. Lol. Also, if you wish to wait until the other story is completed to avoid spoilers, that is your decision. If you wish to read this, then feel free to and enjoy!**

**I do not own Sonic The Hedgehog. All rights belong to Sega.**

* * *

_Chapter 1: Tropical Trouble._

"Ugh, finally." Groaned Sonic the Hedgehog, the young hero of Planet Mobius, a world where humans and anthropomorphic animals that live in peace and harmony. Or at least it would if it weren't for the continuous threats from the evil Dr. Eggman, or a few other threats that threatened to destroy or enslave all life.

Though where Sonic, and his companion, best friend and little adoptive brother, Miles Prower the young fox, who everyone including his friends call Tails due to his unusual twin tails that gives him the ability to fly, are right now, it may be a different story. But Sonic disagreed. Whenever Eggman was involved with something, the cobalt hedgehog knew he had to investigate.

Stepping out of the elevator after sneaking in, Sonic walked casually as though it was a normal occurrence, although he was very relieved to finally be out of the small box after what felt like forever since stepping onboard. Being trapped inside a containment like that not only made him feel claustrophobic, but it was like out of his worst nightmares; trapped with no way out against his well, taking away his freedom and unable to do anything about it.

Though to be fair it was a pretty fast trip...at least it was to Tails who, not having liked the experience himself, wobbled out and feeling woozy and was seeing stars circle around his head, making the young kit uncertain if it was just the stars outside of the place or the stars in his vision.

"You gonna be okay, bro?" Sonic asked, noticing his little brother's condition.

"Y-yeah. Just feeling the effects o-of the elevator." Tails replied, trying to recover from the ride.

"Yeah, well, it was still kinda too slow for my taste." The blue hedgehog replied as he and his best friend paused in front of the path that lead into the place; they were currently in a giant, Intersteller Amusement Park, right above the planet, along with five other attractions that looked suspiciously like other, but smaller planets. The main park itself was like a Tropical Hotel or a Cruise Ship. Maybe a mixture of both. They were in an Attraction known as the Tropical Resort, and the name fit the theme.

"Okay, let's see what that Egghead's up to with this place." Sonic continued as he and Tails scanned their surroundings. This was only one section of the large park, and unfortunately for the hero, he was utterly and beyond amazed. Hover Cars flew over their heads, buildings had all kinds of beautiful decorations, neon signs, and heaps of room for him to run.

"WHOA! This is amazing!" Tails exclaimed in awe, his nausea all but forgotten and his eyes glittering like stars. Sonic couldn't help but smile softly at his friend's expression. The eight year old kit always looked so cute whenever he smiled, laughed or being excited. Three of the many things the blue hedgehog loved about him.

"Hate to admit it, but it does look way past cool, even though it has Eggman's name written all over it." Sonic admitted, rubbing his nose. "That guy's idea of fun is like a nail replacing a haystack."

"Or maybe he really has changed?" Tails suggested with a shrug.

The hedgehog shook his head firmly. "No way. The last time he faked remorse was..." He paused, a bit uncomfortably and shrugged a bit even if he tried not to show it. "Well, you know. Back when the planet split apart."

His brother gazed at him worriedly and while Sonic tried to avoid his gaze by looking away slightly, Tails still caught on the hints of guilt on his expression and deep into his emerald eyes. Something that scarred the hero for life.

"...It wasn't your fault, you know." The fox whispered, half-hoping Sonic wouldn't hear, but he did. Sonic gave his friend a small but sad smile, knowing that he was only trying to cheer him up. He was grateful for it, but he also felt terrible for making his friends worry. That was supposed to be his job, and his duty to protect them, to be the leader model, the hero of Mobius.

But lately, Sonic felt that he was slowly but steadily losing his touch. His previous adventure proved, at least to him, that he wasn't as stable as he used to be, and that terrified him a lot. Granted all of his adventures really would've gotten him killed, but he always managed to emerge victorious. However, his most recent one really got to him, and while he had recovered and returned to his cheerful and optimistic self, some mental wounds still refused to fully heal.

"It as well have been." Sonic softly replied, his weak smile fading and looked away again, rubbing his right arm as terrifying memories emerged but mentally fought against them. As much as he tried to hide his troubled thoughts and more emotional feelings, there were times when he felt that maybe he should open up a bit more. "I can't get over it, Tails. I tried, and I'm still trying not to let it get to me...but it's a lot harder than I thought."

Tails felt instantly guilty for having brought up that thought and lowered his gaze. "I'm sorry, Sonic. I didn't mean to bring it up."

"I know, buddy. C'mere." Sonic whispered, smiling again, and gently pulled his adoptive brother into his arms and the two shared a loving but brief hug. "Thanks, Li'l bro. I love you."

"I love you too, big bro." Tails replied, still feeling terrible, but relieved that the hedgehog was still the same as ever and wasn't angry or completely upset. Just scarred. He giggled a bit when Sonic gently kissed him on the top of the head. "Maybe investigating this place will cheer you up?"

Sonic chuckled at the suggestion and smirked, perking up almost instantly. "In that case, time for some exploring." The two let go and smiled, with the hedgehog feeling much better already. He then grinned cheekily. "Race ya!"

Without waiting for a second, Sonic sped off in a speed of sound down the golden path, with Tails close behind almost immediately as he spun his tails like a helicopter to try and catch up, calling out. "Wait up, Sonic!"

Though in retrospect, Tails was glad that his suggestion had cheered his big brother up, and mostly taking his mind off what had happened before and laughed happily as he caught up with him. It was the great advantage in being able to fly, almost matching half of Sonic's speed. He remembered the day when they first met, and after introducing themselves, they had a game of tag which made Sonic amazed and happy, and it made Tails happy to have finally made a real friend.

* * *

"WOOO!" Sonic cheered as he ran down the path, zooming past the attractions that, along with the rest of the place, really did look like extreme fun. Despite that it was Eggman who had built it, which was the major downside of it and it wasn't fair because of the evil doctor, the teenage hedgehog began to love it already.

Sonic ran along the hoops the road had and was delighted since it made him feel free, travelling up and down different levels and jumped onto the golden grind rails, surfing his way with gold sparks trailing behind him. Tails had caught up and even though he didn't usually fly for very long, the young fox has actually gotten better in being able to stay in flight a bit longer each day.

They surfed and flew over the lower levels that looked spectacular from above, but nothing compared to the view of space outside, especially the view of Mobius from each window angles.

"YEAH!" Sonic shouted cheerfully once more as he leaped from one grind rail to another to avoid getting hit by an obstacle that would've been his mistake. He really began to enjoy the Amusement Park, but was still vigilant. Really, building this place wouldn't really make Eggman atone for his actions and Sonic did admit that the evil scientist did help out on very rare occasions, there was no way this would be enough for the guy to say he was sorry.

And he still doubted that his enemy really built this place as an apology. Something suspicious was going on. The blue hedgehog could feel it; from the back of his quills right into this spine and all the way into his gut instincts.

Eventually Sonic and Tails landed on safer ground and walked casually side by side as they explore more of the park and the hero had to admit, he LOVED this place.

"_**Welcome to Eggman's Incredible Intersteller Amusement Park!**_" Eggman's voice echoed throughout the intercom, almost catching the duo off-guard despite having hard his obnoxious voice during their self-tour. "_**Where you can enjoy five planets to the price of one.**_"

"He loves to hear his own lips flap, but I gotta hand to the Eggster; this place is epic! Everyone and their brother will wanna come here." Sonic admitted as he turned to the left, motioning his companion to follow.

"No doubt." Tails agreed as he followed his best friend, walking along by Sonic's left, and while he had his own slight suspicions, he was a little uncertain. "But now I'm not sure why we're here. This place looks totally harmless."

'_Had a feeling Tails would begin to buy into this._' Sonic thought to himself, not surprised as he explained via experiences, adding up the situation. "Because Eggman plus _"secretly built amusement park"_ equals evil plot for us to foil. Lucky for us he's not very good in keeping things hidden."

Tails giggled. "Yeah, it would be hard to miss a giant floating space amusement park surrounded by planets." He then frowned a little. "Still, an evil plot? I dunno."

He then quickly realized what he said and, remembering their conversation from earlier, held his hands up in defense and apologetically said with a nervous smile. "Uh, d-don't get me wrong! I mean, well, you know-"

"It's okay, Tails. Sure, I did say it's hard to get over, but I try not to dwell into it. Not the first time I messed up while trying to stop Egghead's plots and I doubt the last time will be my last, even if I'm really careful this time. Like I always say." Sonic replied, smiling warmly.

"Keep moving forward and don't ever look back." The duo chorused and laughed in unison. Sonic then stopped near the edge of the resort and gazed up when something caught his eye. Tails paused to see what his friend was looking at and both their eyes widened in awe and admiration and love.

From the most perfect angle and window was Mobius itself. It looked absolutely beautiful, somehow shining among the stars and as though it was glowing in blue aura. They had seen the view of Mobius before, given the events on the ARK, but this took the cake of the most wonderful sight the duo had ever seen.

"Whoa..." The two murmured in awe.

"Plot or not, you can't be mad at this view." Sonic said, smiling as he folded his arms. He loved the planet. It was his home, Tails' home. Everybody's home. He loved everything that Mobius had to offer; the zones, terrians, the people, everything. "This place is takin' beauty to the next level! I'm just surprised it was so easy to sneak in here."

Tails however begged to differ, as he murmured nervously while he remembered how they got here and sweatdropped. "Uh, I wouldn't say it was THAT easy..."

* * *

_Around an hour or two earlier..._

It was a beautiful day in the fields near Station Square. So beautiful that Sonic wished it would last forever, but then again he was for something new. One thing that wouldn't change for him though, was the beauty of Mother Nature. He was never grow tired of it. Other than his friends who had been family to him since his departure from his parents, especially his best friend and adoptive little brother Tails, he loved Mobius.

The trees, the flowers, the grass, the sky and the clouds, all the mountains, and despite his aqua phobia and not being able to swim, the rivers and ocean were beautiful to look at too. Even the cities and kingdoms he visited were fabulous too, along with the people, and the delicious food. And the Temples and ancient places he'd never seen or heard of before as well, especially from his most recent adventure two months ago.

'_Wonder how Chip's doing? And Sun._' Sonic thought to himself as these thoughts made him think about his two newest friends whom he had to depart with.

That adventure had affected Sonic quite a lot, and while he still felt guilty for what has happened, he tried his best to move on. He missed them deeply, though, and while he knew that he had a chance to see Sun again someday, the same wouldn't be said for Chip.

He tried not to think about it much, and at times managed to continue on with his life. Like today as he raced through the fields with Tails flying by his side.

"WOOO HOOO!" Sonic cheered happily, loving the breeze that blew into his quills and on his face. "This is living!"

"It's really a beautiful day, huh?" Tails asked in agreement. "We would do this forever if we wanted to!"

"You said it, li'l buddy! And today, we're going on another adventure! Just you and me! Whaddya say?"

His best friend laughed happily. "That would be awesome, dude!"

Sonic laughed, smirking brightly at his best friend. "That's the spirit! We'll grab some Chili Dogs for lunch and then plan our next journey. We could go anywhere!"

Before either of them could come up with where to go today, however, something way ahead of them caught Sonic's sight and blinked in surprise and confusion and exclaimed, "Tails, hold up!"

The cobalt hedgehog skid to a stop on top of a small hill and gazed out at the sight before him and the two tailed fox who slowed to a stop and landed next to his best friend, his expression mirroring Sonic's. In the small distance in front of the duo, standing right in the middle of the huge field of grass and dirt path, was a massive towering white building that was so tall that lead right into space. Sonic and Tails's eyes widened in awe and confusion and no small amount of suspicion as they followed the gaze all the way and noticed a large floating fortress that looked colourful.

It was surrounded by what looked like to be smaller planets, though whether they were actual planets or just attractions was left to debate. The very middle looked pretty colourful, though the bright sky and sunny day made it almost impossible to see completely.

Sonic whistled, "If that ain't both way past cool and suspicious, then I dunno what is."

"It's weird, but I kinda looks like an amusement park." Tails thought, squiting his eyes and shielding them with his hand to try and get a better look.

"A Space Amusement Park?" Sonic remarked, sweatdropping this time with an rised eyebrow. "That just has Eggman written all over it. Whenever you see something that is way past normal and suspicious, you just know that that Egghead has something to do with it."

"You think we should check it out?" His best friend asked.

The blue hedgehog smirked eagerly and gave him a thumbs up and a wink. "You just read my mind, bro. C'mon!" He then dashed off towards the towering white building, with Tails calling out to him before following via flight.

When the best friends reached it in no time, they found that it was an elevator leading towards the huge floating building. Sonic and Tails then entered it and found, to their confusion, was a set of keys that allowed them to open the doors.

"Well, that was too easy." Sonic remarked, picking up the keys and examined it. As he and Tails gazed at the doors again, they both raised an eyebrow each when they recognized the ugly symbolitic face of Eggman's hidious grin and un-mistakeble mustache painted in purple that almost covered it completely.

The blue hedgehog let out a groan as he rolled his eyes with a small sweatdrop. "Forget what I said about Eggman written over it. This is Eggman **painted** all over."

"I'll never tell if either the real Eggman or his paint logo are the scariest." Tails shuddered, shaking his head with a small groan of his own.

"Yeah, he likes to fill his giant-egg-ego, doesn't he?" Sonic nodded, then smirked and slotted the keys into the keyhole, opening the automatic doors. "Oh well. Let's go investigate this joint."

Few minutes later, the two friends stepped inside as the doors closed and then were on their way to the very place, much faster than either of them expected, for an elevator. Tails let out a startled yelp at how fast it was going, and while it was still slower than Sonic, even the Mobian hero had to admit this was faster than an average elevator. But he is still the fastest thing alive.

As they were nearing their destination which still seemed to be really slow for Sonic, halfway as they left the Planet's orbit, as the sight from outside was incredible even if it gave them both memories of the ARK, and in the blue hedgehog's case, the fortress from two months ago was beautiful, they began to hear Eggman's voice in the recorded intercom.

"_**Hello, happy people!**_" Shouted the voice, which made Sonic mentally cringe. "_**Buckle up as Eggman's Ultra-Accelerating Space Elevator whisks you to an interplanetarly wonderland of fun!**_"

'_His idea of fun is turning people into his slaves or killing them for his own amusement._' Sonic thought to himself, shaking his head as he said aloud, his hands tucked behind his head. "I can't believe somebody was dumb enough to leave the keys in this thing! It's like Eggman's begging us to sneak in and trash the place."

Tails would've replied, but he was desperately trying to hold onto the wall for dear life, shaking like a leaf as the elevator's speed was making him feel very woozy, his stomach flipping all over the place inside him.

"M-man! This thing's got c-c-crazy acceleration!" The poor terrified fox stuttered, his eyes wide as a dinner plate.

"You call this _fast_?" Sonic scoffed, leaning against the wall. "I can run faster than _this_ piece of junk."

In fact, the only major problem he was facing was the fact that the elevator wasn't going fast enough, and the longer he and Tails were stuck in the small room, locked inside and heading towards the Amusement Park, the more Sonic began to feel like he was inside a prison, captured by the evil doctor with no way out. The blue hedgehog had to restrain himself from rubbing his arms as memories of both being mistaken for Shadow and his nightmares of Eggman winning began to fill his mind.

But he was managing to hide it and repeatedly told himself that it was going to be okay...Well, as long as he didn't mess up again.

"_**This amusement park has been constructed entirely out of sense of remorse for my past transgressions and is in no way associated with any evil plot or premeditated misdeeds.**_" Eggman's voice blared once again.

"Well, that's a relief." Sonic said sarcastically, rolling his eyes. He didn't buy this even one second. Last time he did, he had been trapped, stripped from the Chaos Emeralds which were then used to power up a cannon that split the world apart, awakening Dark Gaia at the wrong time. It was also when Sonic had met Sun for the first time...and almost eaten that day, too.

"_**Next stop: the Tropical Resort! There you'll find breathtaking views from our giant Ferris Wheel! Amazing deals at the shopping mall, and constant threat of bodily harm!**_"

Sonic rolled his eyes again and shook his head with a sigh, folding his arms with an exasperated and dull look, eyes half open. "Give me a break."

* * *

_Back in the Present..._

Tails groaned as he placed a hand on his forehead when he remembered that trip of nightmares. "Ugh, just thinking about it makes my head feel like it wants to-"

_**BOOM!**_

A loud explosion behind the duo cut Tails off as he and Sonic spun around to see what it was coming from. The latter narrowed his eyes with a frown and without second thought and telling Tails that he'll be right back, he raced off to see what was going on. The blue hedgehog followed the sound, which was soon followed by weird squeeling babbling he couldn't understand, and familiar machinery moving.

When Sonic arrived, he skid to a stop on the ledge that peered down the lower part of the resort. What he saw wasn't a pretty sight. In fact, despite the strangeness below him, it made his blood boil in anger as he spotted not one, not two, but five robots, four he recognized, the fifth obviously new, chase after unusual but very cute small creatures all over the place. They looked like jellyfish, but one had one eye with a cute curl on it's head, the other two similar to it either spikes or a sphere shaped head. All three of them had two or three tentacles that looked like arms, the bottom parts of their bodies legless. Two were white, including the curled one, and the third was a cyan colour.

"What the...?" Sonic whispered to himself. "What are those things?"

"Yee-haw! Git along, li'l aliens!" A yellow and black cube-shaped robot bellowed in a cowboy voice, named Cubot, as he was chasing after the aliens with a butterfly net. The other robots, Decoe, Becoe, Bokkun, and Orbot, the rounded Robot not only having been reprogrammed after Eggman's humilating blast off by Dark Gaia, but also had the top of his head painted red to match his hands, were also chasing after. Orbot had a laser gun, Decoe and Becoe had crates, and Bokkun had a hammer...which was nothing more than a plastic toy hammer.

"Your voice chip is stuck on cowboy again, Cubot!" Decoe groaned in annoyance.

"Can't you have a NORMAL voice like everybody else?" Becoe asked, just as annoyed.

"Stop talking and net those aliens!" Orbot cried out, as he tried to shoot the aliens...only to repeatedly miss miserably.

"Come back here, you squid-shaped blobs! Hold still, will ya!?" Bokkun shouted, irritated as he and the other robots continued to chase after the terrified aliens who continued to try and escape. Cubot repeatedly yelled out in cowboy mode which was irritating the other three robots.

Orbot in the meantime, realizing that he had terrible aim, simply shrugged and relaxed. He decided to let his companions do the work...even if Cubot was now officially the stupidest and slowest robot ever created.

'_Aliens, huh? Gotta say, those little guys are cute._' Sonic thought to himself. While his experience with Aliens had left him uneasy due to Black Doom and his Black Army who had targeted the back-then amnesitic Shadow for the Chaos Emeralds and devour the world, mainly to engulf humanity, he really didn't like the scene below him.

Those little guys looked completely terrified, and innocent. While Sonic knew that looks can be decieving, his gut instincts and conscience were telling him that these aliens were captured against their will and he knew right there and then that Eggman was really up to no good once more.

"That big, fat liar!" Sonic growled softly, knowing that Eggman's so called 'remorse' in the intercom really was another lie. The blue hedgehog clutched his fist which shook in anger which he tried to keep under control. "I'm not sure what's going on...but I'm sure of what I'm gonna do!"

Wasting no time, the heroic hedgehog jumped and leaped from structure to structure, leaping over Cubot, bouncing on top of Decoe, Becoe, and even Bokkun who gave a childish whine, "Ow!", the three robots shoved onto the ground painfully and he then zoomed straight towards the Aliens. Just as Cubot was about to swing his net to capture them, Sonic scooped up the trio into his arms and ran right back to where he came from.

"Huh!?" Cubot exclaimed, dumbfounded when he saw that his net was empty.

Sonic sighed in relief as he let go of the aliens who floated a bit away, but were staring at their blue hedgehog savior. He smiled at them with a thumbs up, before turning back down to the robots and glared.

"Hey! What's going on?" He called out. "What're you doin' to these aliens?"

Before Sonic could get an answer, he noticed that the aliens were circling all around him and confusing him. The cyan one stared at the blue hedgehog who stared back, quickly uncertain and half-wondered if maybe saving these little guys wasn't such a good idea after all. Before he could say anything, he softly gasped as the cyan alien glowed before practically absorbing itself like lightning into his body, a little dangerously close to his heart.

"Huh?" Sonic muttered as he began to float, and the next thing he knew, he turned into a cyan laser energy and was zoomed away further into the park, screaming. "WHOA!"

He ended up leaving the other aliens behind, the curled one flying off into one direction while the other flew away.

* * *

"AAAAHHHHHHH!" Sonic screamed as he was zooming faster than HE normally would across the park in his new laser form, taking out robots that were giving out welcome signs but didn't look friendly at all, with hands on their arms ready to attack anyone who might cause trouble to Eggman's plot.

"H-HELP ME!" The blue hedgehog exclaimed. While he had to admit it was really cool, he just wished that he could turn back to normal and figure out what was happening. Fortunately, the laser power wore off and Sonic returned to normal, being gently set down onto the ground and the Cyan alien flew out of his chest.

Slightly shaken from the experience even if it had been fun now that he thought about it, Sonic placed a hand to his chest and leaned forward, his other hand on his left knee as he panted. He didn't feel hurt or sick or anything, he just hadn't been expecting it. Not only that, he had been scared. The blue hedgehog had that brief but terrifying moment that he thought he made the wrong choice.

"What the?" He muttered, as the Cyan alien hovered next to him curiously. Sonic glanced up at it and asked, incredulously yet utterly amazed. "What'd you do to me, little guy?"

"$%#%*#$^%$*." The Cyan Alien babbled, rubbing the back of it's head as though sheepish about not giving Sonic a warning.

"Uhhhh..." The teenager murmured, confused. He then smiled sheepishly and mirrored the alien's posture and apologetically replied. "Sorry. I can't understand you. Gotta say, what happened back there did catch me off-guard but was it really cool, too."

Even though the alien didn't seem to understand what Sonic was saying either, it seemed to understand his expression and it's eyes closed in a expression to which Sonic understood full well that it was happy. It circled around him once more in a very friendly manner and hugged him on the face, tickling him.

"H-hey! Ha ha! Cut it out! That tickles!" Sonic laughed. Eventually the alien did stop and let go before waving at him and flew off. The hedgehog waved back before gazing back at the destroyed robots.

Deciding to investigate further, Sonic sped into the newer, unexplored parts of the Resort after realizing that he was inadvertely lost and far away from Tails. He raced and jumped through many obstacles and surfed his way along the grind rails. As he did, Sonic saw large robot with a large welcome sign, but didn't like the sight of him.

"All this welcoming is making me nauseous. Especially when Eggman lied again." Sonic grumbled under his breath, and went into his spin dash, smashing it into pieces instantly. As he did, three more aliens emerged, much to his surprise and shock and realization hit him like a ton of bricks.

'Eggman's using these aliens to fuel his robots!? It's like at Green Hill all over again!' He thought to himself. Before Sonic could scream out in anger, he cooled off when the aliens, the white ones this time like the other two he saved earlier, hovered towards him and circled around him really fast, with relieved, curious and happy expressions and movements.

"Hiya!" Sonic greeted with a kind smile. "You okay, little guys?"

"&%$*$ %$&!" The three aliens babbled, again in the alien language Sonic did not understand. Before he could say anything, they each flew right into his chest, catching him off-guard again.

"AHH! W-wait!" Sonic cried out, a little frightened as memories of the Rings of Anger, Hate and Sorrow filled his mind, back when he saved the Arabian Nights Realm. That experience had turned him dark and it terrified him, even now. Sonic hugged himself and squeezed his eyes shut, not knowing what to expect from these aliens.

To his surprise, it felt like a much lighter version of Chaos Energy, almost like a rainbow entered his veins and heart. Sonic blinked in confusion and gazed at his hands, before he found himself speeding forward and ran once more, this time much, much faster, almost like it was...

"Whoa! Boost!" Sonic exclaimed, and ran, leaving a trail of sparks and colours and while he still had no idea what was going on or why the aliens were giving him such incredible yet scary powers, he found that he was beginning to enjoy himself.

"WOOOOOOOOO!" The blue hedgehog cheered, running so fast that he while couldn't see where he was going, and tried to block out Eggman's annoying PA Announcements that echoed through out the Resort, he was having a blast.

Especially when he saw more angles of Mobius that he admired and loved so much as he ran. Eventually the boost power wore off and Sonic was back in his normal speed. The aliens flew out of him and giggled before flying away, probably to rejoin it's other freed friends. Sonic couldn't help but smile, even if he was still a tad nervous.

"Man, these little guys sure have a bit scary but way past cool way of showing off their gratitude." Sonic remarked to himself, placing his hands on his hips. He looked around to see where he was now, and saw a giant Ferris wheel with a huge welcome sign, and narrowed his brows at it. There was something very off-putting about the ride.

"Must be the Ferris Wheel Eggman talked about. Kinda creepy." He muttered.

"_**Please do not be concerned if you encounter screaming aliens. The screams are how they communicate. Really, I promise.**_" Eggman's voice recording echoed once again.

"Yeah, right." Sonic scoffed, already knowing better. "The only reason the aliens are screaming is because they're freaked out, no thanks to you, Egghead."

The moment he said that, though, Sonic softly gasped to himself as another realization dawned onto him. He folded his arms in deep thought and concern.

"Wait a sec...that wasn't me being scared even though I was a little freaked out myself. It was their fear I was feeling inside me." Sonic murmured to himself, gazing at his hands. "I could feel it. It's not just their mysterious powers I was feeling. These aliens are scared beyond belief, because of what Eggman's done to them."

It didn't help that Sonic had his own memories that were brought up accidentally, due to experiences in his two previous adventures. He knew that the aliens didn't mean to scare him, even if he couldn't understand what they were saying. The blue hedgehog suddenly felt guilty for reacting as such, especially when he went through the trouble in saving them. These creatures were innocent and friendly, but being brought here against their will terrified them.

"I know what it's like being so afraid and captured like that, and the thought of your future being put into doubt and your friends in danger as well. Not knowing what to do. I'd go nuts in terror if I were ever imprisoned by that creep, too." He muttered to himself.

Nodding to himself with determination, stronger than ever before to get to the bottom of this, Sonic sped off to rescue more of these pure hearted aliens. The blue hedgehog leaped and found a large capsule which had more aliens inside, and three robots surrounding it.

"Hang on, li'l guys! I'll save you!" Sonic shouted, leaping and performed a karate kick at one of the robots guarding it. "Hiyaa!"

He smashed it's head off cleanly where it stumbled to the side, caught off-guard by the unexpected attack from the blue hedgehog. It stumbled into the other one who collapsed onto the ground and the third one, being alerted by his presence, shot out lasers at him. Sonic smirked and easily dodged to the right before running forward and kicked and karate punched it in the chest and arms and then took out the first two, destroying them instantly.

"Well, that was easy. I'm kinda disappointed." Sonic taunted, before setting his task to jump onto the capsule and hopped on top of it, pushing down a button which opened it and then landed on the ground. Twelve more aliens emerged, six that were white, and six that were cyan.

The aliens giggled and huddled each other happily as Sonic smiled happily. They then circled around their Mobian hero with giggles in their language.

"Hey there. Don't worry, you're safe and free now." Sonic reassured them. "I'll make sure that horrible man in red doesn't hurt you again."

They seemed even more relieved by his kind words, and one of the cyan aliens was about to enter Sonic's body to give him the power of laser once more. This time he braced himself for it and while he was still a little uneasy, he allowed it to happen and once again turned into a laser, zooming away across the resort.

* * *

A little while later while waiting for Sonic to return, Tails had been acquainted with the curly alien and, not understanding it at all, decided to adjust his hand-held device, the Miles Electric. He was fiddling with it to turn it into a translator while sitting on his blue tool box.

"Let me see. Gotta connect the framistatic capacitor to the maximizing modulationzer..." The eight year old fox was muttering to himself.

The little alien with the blue curl hovered around him curiously, and even tried giving out body movements with it's tentacles while speaking it's language, hoping to be helpful. " #^$# ^ ^#$%#."

Sadly Tails couldn't understand it even with his intelligence and sighed apologetically to his and Sonic's new friend. "I wish I knew what you were saying little guy. Or gal. Or...whatever you are."

"WHOA!" Came Sonic's screams as he suddenly appeared once again in laser form as though appearing out of nowhere before returning to his original form and landed safely on the ground. The latest Cyan alien flew out of his chest and waved a goodbye to him before flying off. Probably to rejoin the rest of it's friends.

While Sonic was recovering from his continuous transformations due to the aliens lending him their powers, he was totally hyped by the experience no matter how hard he tried to get used to it, and then realized that he finally made it back to his best friend.

"Whoa...Oh man! That...was..._CRAZY!_" Sonic exclaimed in disbelief and utter excitement, waving his arms to emphasize his words, only to notice that Tails was too engrossed with his fiddling that he hadn't even noticed what happened. But the two-tailed fox did notice him standing there.

"Oh, hey Sonic. I was just configuring my hand-held into a translator so I can understand this guy." Tails spoke up, gesturing at the little alien, before asking. "Did you...go somewhere?"

"Didn't you see?" Sonic asked, unable to believe that Tails hadn't seen what happened. He then explained his experience. "I absorbed those aliens and got powered up by with, like, some kind of _wild energy_! And after a few seconds they popped outta me!"

Even though Sonic was truthful, Tails shared a glance with the little alien who looked sheepish as it shrugged. The young fox then turned to his hedgehog big brother and apologetically replied, "Uh, I find that hard to believe."

"No, really! It's true!" Sonic exclaimed. "It all started when I saved this little guy and his friends from Decoe, Becoe, Bokkun and Orbot, and some Cowboy voiced block robot that's new."

The aforementioned alien flew up to Sonic's side and nodded, as though understanding him and attempted to confirm that the blue hedgehog was telling the truth.

Tails only blinked, before rubbing the back of his head. "Okay, so maybe you're right. I still find it hard to believe, though."

Sonic sighed, disappointed. He then decided to drop it and then changed the subject, spreading out his arms in a serious tone. "Okay, seriously. We need to find Eggman and figure out how catching these aliens fit into whatever heinous plan he's hatching!"

"And wreck that plan, right?" Tails guessed with a knowing smile.

"Yeah, that's how we pretty much spend our time." Sonic shrugged, still knowing that his best friend still found that Eggman was up to his usual tricks again hard to believe as well. "I'm gonna look around a bit more. Be right back."

With a final wave, Sonic then raced off to continue explore the Tropical Resort and find Eggman to learn more of this newest plot.

* * *

**A/N: I was gonna fit in the boss battle in this chapter, but I ran out of time as it was getting late and I didn't want to wait another week before I could get the chance to post this story again. Hope I did okay with it.**

**See you in the next chapter!**


	2. Chapter 2: Eggman's Big Boy

**Author's Note: Hi, welcome back to another chapter of Sonic's adventure! I'm really glad that you're liking it so far, and I will do my best with it. Let's continue onward!**

**I do not own Sonic The Hedgehog. All rights belong to Sega.**

* * *

_Chapter 2: Eggman's Big Boy._

Sonic wasted no time in racing through more of the Tropical Resort, which looked far more like a tropical city mixed in with a cruise liner and an actual resort. Though halfway from where he left Tails and the little alien, he was met with another capsule in the middle of the road, with more Cyan Aliens trapped inside and shivering and shaking. The looks of their eyes told the blue hedgehog that they were frightened to the core.

It broke his heart into pieces.

Without second thought, he sped up and cracked the capsule open and almost instantly the aliens flew out before gazing at him curiously. Sonic smiled sincerely with a wave.

"Hey there. How're you doin'?" He greeted. But as Sonic thought the aliens were about to do something or turn him into a laser again, his sensitive ears picked up a sound coming from behind him and then judging from the renewed terrified expressions on the little creatures' expressions, with one of them squealing in panic while pointing behind him, he knew that they had unpleasant company.

Sonic spun around in alarm and saw a large flying robot hovering towards him. At first it had a welcome sign in it's hands, but when it scanned the four down below, it identified the hedgehog as a threat and the captives having escaped.

"**Identifying potential threat: Sonic the Hedgehog. Aliens escaping! Threat levels to 5. Priority one: Eliminate and recapture!**" The robot announced, putting away it's hands and the sign, replacing them with fire cannons and aimed at the group.

"So much for the welcoming committee." Sonic said dryly, before smirking. "But at least it's a challenge I can't refuse."

The robot powered up, and Sonic quickly stood in defense to fight. He was about to tell the aliens to make a run for it when they saw, as he was about to face the machine, that he is to be trusted for saving their lives and hovered all around him. At first confused, he then realized what they were about to do and smiled.

"Guess you wanna help out and get a little bit of payback, right?" The blue hedgehog asked, smirking. "I can totally understand that."

As though reading his mind, the cyan aliens morphed themselves into his body and Sonic tried his best to get used to it. He thought nothing but what else he and his new friends were about to do and glared back up at the robot that was about to fire laser bullets at him with a smirk.

"LASER!" Sonic shouted, transforming once again and zoomed upward, smashing and laser-hitting it before the piece of metal had a chance to even attack. In less than a few seconds, the robot fell apart and was nothing but scrap, while the blue hedgehog landed safely on the ground once more after returning to normal and the aliens emerged.

"Yeah!" He cheered, and shared high-fives with the alien trio. "Nice job, guys! Thanks."

"$%# &*%$%$+#!" The aliens giggled happily, and flew around Sonic who chuckled.

"Hey, no need to thank me! I was happy to help." Sonic laughed. "I do it because I know it's right, and don't you worry, I promise to save more of your kind."

The aliens beamed happily before waving and then flew away to rejoin more of their freed kind. Sonic watched them go in relief before racing off further into the Resort and he would've ignored more of Eggman's intercom if one hadn't made him actually listen and not because he was convinced that the evil doctor had turned over a new leaf.

"_**Would the owner of a white hovercar shaped like an egg report to the office? Your car has been broken into. I repeat, would the owner of a white hovercar shaped like an egg report to the office? Your car has been broken into– Wait a minute, what the heck?**_"

Sonic ended up bursting into laughter at that statement and glanced up even though he couldn't see Eggman yet, but took the oppotunity to taunt him. "Maybe you should double check your own vehicles, Egghead!"

He slid underneath walls to avoid in crashing into it and grinned excitedly when he saw a zipline which was to be used to reach the other side. Sonic jumped and grabbed hold of it, zipping his way down and enjoying himself as he did. But he also knew that he had to find Eggman quickly and save the rest of the captured aliens.

As he reached the other side, he saw yet more robots and went into spin dash to take them out one by one, hitting them with perfect timing. Three more white aliens emerged and in gratitude lend him the power of boost which increased Sonic's speed once more.

No sooner had it wore off as Sonic soon found himself seeing more and more capsules being lined up, he nearly crashed into one and easily cracked it open only for another robot to open fire on him. The blue hedgehog quickly sped out of the way to avoid in getting vaporized or shot and used his spin dash to smash it into pieces. Unfortunately as he finished it off and freed another alien, the impact of the robot's destruction caused him to stumble back dangerously close to the edge that he began to lose his balance.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa! WHOA!" Sonic cried out, trying not to fall off as he frailed his arms to prevent himself from falling into the deep, dark abyss below. Where he it would, he didn't want to find out. But at the rate he was going, it looked like he was about to.

"No, no! Noooooo!" He screamed as he began to fall backwards. Just as Sonic squeezed his eyes shut and braced himself while hoping that he would either find a grind rail to slide on or a platform halfway down to land safely, the two aliens that he freed flew over to his rescue. One grabbed hold of his gloved hand, and the other pushed him on the back and prevented him from falling to his death.

Confused and surprised as he realized that he was still alive, Sonic opened his eyes and saw that the aliens had saved his life. They pulled and pushed him back to safety where the blue hedgehog took a couple steps forward before sighing in relief. The two cyan aliens made movements of sighing in relief themselves.

"Phew. That was close." He sighed, and smiled gratefully at the two aliens who hovered around him, as though making sure if he was okay. "Thanks, guys. I owe you one. Thought I was a goner there for a second."

The two aliens babbled happily in what Sonic thought was gibberish by now, and circled around him and as though to show him more of their gratitude for freeing them and that saving his life wasn't enough, they turned into energy and once again absorbed themselves into his body.

"Whoa-ah! Hold up, this isn't necessar-LASER!?" Sonic exclaimed as he turned into his laser form once more and zoomed away further along the path, hitting more agressive robots that guarded the area. He zigzagged and hit them in the cores like a pinball machine or a laser tag game...which this was like a laser tag game to the next level.

After a little while, Sonic returned to normal and the two aliens flew out of him before waving a goodbye and flew off to freedom. The blue hedgehog waved back before looking around his new surroundings. It was still part of the park, but now he could hear dreaded sounds of machinery closer than ever and still haven't found what he was looking for.

Until he heard the annoying familiar voice. Except this time it wasn't the PA intercom. But a bit more distant yet very close, realistic and...almost right around the corner.

"...Fifteen, sixteen, seventeen..." Eggman was saying, and it sounded like he was counting something.

Narrowing his eyes as he suddenly felt that he knew why the evil doctor was counting, Sonic raced forward for a closer look before skidding to a stop. He peered around the corner and saw not only so many more capsules of trapped aliens which ripped his heart to shreds and made him so angry that he nearly lost it, but also his intented target; Eggman himself in his Egg Mobile, counting the capsules to see how many he had so far.

'_Aha. Gotcha, Eggman._' The blue hedgehog thought to himself with a smirk, even though it was really to hide just how furious and horrified that he felt. His smirk faded into a frown as he saw the trapped creatures inside. So many aliens trapped against their will, to used to fuel Eggman's robots and whatever else he intended on doing. Sonic woundered how long this had been going. Two months maybe?

It's not fair. Seeing how traumatized the aliens were, and feeling their concern, worries and fear upon being powered up by their mysterious energy, Sonic knew that they were living creatures like everybody in Mobius were. And Eggman, as usual, was using them as batteries.

The sight of them trapped like this not only shattered his heart, it also made guilt begin to rise in his chest, even if Sonic had nothing to do with how the aliens were caught like this. He didn't end up inadvertly help his worst enemy this time...

'_I wish I could've prevented this, though._' He thought to himself, before glaring up with determination. '_I gotta save these aliens. Watch out, Eggman! You're in for it!_'

He then made his way closer, ready to take on the evil man once more...and maybe have a little bit of fun as an added bonus, as always.

* * *

"...Twentythree, twentyfour, twentyfive..." Eggman finished counting the aliens Decoe, Becoe, Bokkun, Orbot and Cubot captured so far, and to say that he wasn't happy with the results was an understatement. He slammed his fists onto the dashboard, grunting. "Bah! Not nearly enough aliens!"

"I told you we should've kept on catching more." Decoe whispered to his fellow robots with a dull look.

"If it weren't for Sonic, we would've captured at least twentyeight by now." Becoe pointed out, exasperated.

Orbot ignored the former two's whispering and questioned obediantly. "Want us to get more?"

Eggman glared at him and replied sarcastically, "No. I want you to get me a cheeseburger and a shake."

"That'll be easier!" Cubot exclaimed, still in an cowboy voice, completely oblivious of the sarcasm. "Cheeseburgers don't run as fast as them li'l varmints!"

"That's not what he meant, and cheeseburgers can't run! They can't even move at all!" Bokkun yelled, exasperated. The other three robots all groaned with the same feeling and while Decoe and Becoe slumped low, Orbot facepalmed himself. "You ever heard of sarcasm?"

"Ain't sure I had any iffit." Replied the yellow robot. The other four robots and even Eggman anime-fell with groans, unable to believe Cubot's stupidity.

"IDIOT. GET ME MORE ALIENS!" Eggman angrily commanded after getting back up. The five robots quickly split to do as command...only for Cubot to stop and turn back to him.

"Y'all want fries with that?" The yellow robot asked, stupidly. The reply he got was a wrench thrown at him and hit him on the head. He began floating away while grumbling to himself. "I reckon that hurt..."

He then realized he was going in the wrong direction and mumbled to himself while hurrying into the right way. "Wait a minute, I need to go over yonder. Sorry!"

'_Why did I ever build him? I must have done something wrong. Oh, nevermind._' Eggman shook his head in exasperation, before controlling his mobile to hover closer to the capsules, snickering evilly. "Precious little aliens...I'll harness their Hyper-go-on power and then nothing will stop me!"

He then paused and continued, rephrasing his words. "I know, I say that everytime, but this time, really, nothing will stop me!"

"Um...Doctor?" Becoe and Decoe suddenly both muttered nervously, as they, Bokkun and Orbot were staring at something, or rather, someone, on the path they were about to head to, only to stop when they saw that they had company.

"What?" Eggman grumbled in annoyance, but as he looked over his shoulder to see what the two bumbling robots were looking at, he spun around completely as he saw the last thing he expected to see. He leaned forward as he spluttered in disbelief and shock.

Because there stood his worst enemy who held a confident smirk as he always did.

"SONIC!?" Eggman exclaimed, uanble to believe it. Since when did that annoying blue hedgehog get here!? Why hadn't anyone informed him!?

"Who're _you_ callin' nothin'?" Sonic asked with his arms folded to his chest. He then pulled his right lower eyelid down briefly while giving the villains a raspberry before turning around and taunted them even more by slapping his bottom.

"Not you again! Don't you ever know when to _not_ get in the way!?" Bokkun shouted angrily, waving his fists in the air in frustration.

"Funny. I was thinking of a similar question about you guys, except I woulda asked if Ro-butt-nik would ever know when to _not_ hurt anybody." Sonic replied sarcastically with a shrug, grinning as he used the old nick-name he hasn't used for Eggman in years, which added insult to injury as aforementioned doctor growled furiously to the point of almost having steam pour out of his ears.

"You little...!" Eggman grunted, his face almost turning as red as his coat.

"Huh?" Cubot asked, completely confused on what Sonic meant or what was going on.

"He means that the boss said 'nothing will stop me' and since Sonic here is going to stop him, it's like the boss is calling Sonic nothing." Orbot explained without missing a beat. "The reason why Sonic also called Dr. Eggman such a rude name is because the boss's real name is Dr. Ivo Robotnik, but everyone has since called him Eggman he even changed his name as such."

"Great! I thought nobody would get that." Sonic responded to Orbot's explanation.

"Thanks for the flash-back, Sonic." Decoe and Becoe muttered sarcastically.

Eggman was already as his boiling point before attempting to calm down and glared angrily at Orbot, hissing. "Fine! You're so smart, robot, you take care of this mess! Release the Big Boy! At least I know he won't screw it up!"

He then closed the hatch of his Egg Mobile and took off to the sky, bellowing to everyone down below. "Hasta la bye-bye, suckers!"

"Hey, wait for us, doctor!" Decoe and Becoe cried out, quickly following in a failed attempt to catch up.

"Waaaaaah! Why do I always get left behind!?" Bokkun whined, before taking his leave as well.

"Wait for me, boss!" Orbot exclaimed, floating away as well, leaving Sonic and Cubot to whatever this Big Boy was.

As the blue hedgehog turned to see what Eggman was talking about even though he knew from experience that it was going to be some kind of robot, what he saw was the last thing he expected as it hovered towards the main area. Sonic gasped in shock as he saw none other than the Ferris Wheel, except it was a giant killer robot in reality. It was floating with hands on the ring, the pods being thrusters, numerous platforms and a giant eye in the middle. It was called Rotataron.

Despite this, Sonic quickly recovered from his shock and smirked confidently even as the massive robotic eye peered down at him.

"Well, that explains why it looked creepy." He muttered to himself, casually holding his hands out and got ready for some fighting while adjusting his gloves. "Guess it's time for me to start stopping."

Sonic then rushed forward and used Cubot's head to catapult himself before jumping and landing right inside the frame of giant robot's ring.

The yellow robot in the meantime then finally understood what Orbot was talking about and exclaimed. "I git it!"

* * *

Sonic landed in the bottom of the ring and gazed bravely at the giant eye of the Rotataron who gave out a metallic screech that nearly killed his hearing. But he ignored it and back-flipped out of the way when it attempted to swap at him with it's left arm. It scrapped at where he stood just moments ago and it clawed the metal with a hard scrapping sound that made him cringe, but he ignored that as well.

"Yo, spin-wheel! Why'd you hit yourself for?" The blue hedgehog taunted as he continued to dodge and ran all around inside the ring, easily dodging both of the giant robot's arms that attempted to either grab him or squish him.

As Sonic spun and run faster and faster, he could tell that the robot was getting more and more agitated for continuously missing him and he smirked. He jumped and leaped from platform to platform and even used the metal ball things to his advantage before spin dashing right into it's eye repeatedly. His sharpened quills hit the mark as Rotataron gave another mechanical scream.

The blue hedgehog cringed as he uncurled and landed on one of the slow-moving platforms. He rubbed his right ear and winced. "Ow. I can see why Eggman said you robots are sensitive, but did you really have to make my ears ring?"

Rotataron responded by releasing several neon pink ninja stars and hurled them towrads the Mobian hero. Sonic gasped before ducking and jumping to avoid them, even though one came dangerously close in slicing his left arm off but it did scrape him a little, but not enough to make a cut or bleed. It did sting a little but he chose to not let it distract him. But as he looked up and was determined to keep fighting, what caught Sonic off-guard was a capsule on one of the platforms with a cyan alien inside it.

"How'd I miss that!?" He exclaimed, before yelping and then ducked as blades came out from the metal balls and spun around to try and slice him into pieces, added with the giant robot's hands trying to hit or grab him again. Sonic sweatdropped, "Boy, is he mad now."

Sonic then jumped and once the blades were put away, he used this chance to attack the single eye again with his spin dash and karate kicks, battle yelling as he went and causing more damage, which infuriated the giant robot even more to the point of shaking which nearly caused him to lose his balance. He then quickly leaped down to the capsule and cracked it open to free the captured little alien.

"Run! Now's your chance!" The blue hedgehog instructed once the alien, who gazed at him curiously for saving it's life, was out. The alien, stunned by his heroic deeds, stared before it and Sonic heard perching sounds of metal again and turned just in time to see the blades come back along with the neon stars coming at full force. He turned back to the alien and screamed, "LOOK OUT!"

Sonic grabbed the alien and jumped, avoiding the blades, ninja stars and giant hands as he went before letting it go and gently gestured it to leave. "It's okay! I'm your friend. Go! I'll take care of this underrated ride!"

He turned back to the monstrous machine and leaped up, attacking the very weakest again as quickly as possible. Rotataron shrieked again which nearly busted Sonic's eardrums so much that he had to cover them with his hands and cringed to try and numb the painful noise as soon as he landed on another platform. Unfortunately, that was his mistake as the giant robot siezed it's chance to clasp him in it's right giant hand, catching him off guard.

"WOAAAH!" Sonic screamed as he was now trapped in the massive grasp and lifted off the platform. He struggled to wiggle himself free from the tight grip that was crushing him to death. But when he made to glare at the robot holding him captive, he gasped as for a split second, his mind's vision transformed the robot into something horribly familiar, one that he wished he wouldn't see in reality again.

The realistic flash-back of a giant Werehog from his nightmares grinning evilly and hungrily before him and Sonic, knowing that he was suddenly hallucinating, thought he felt the cold skin of the Werehog's hands holding him tightly. The blue hedgehog shivered, his heart leaping into his throat and falling into his stomach. He tried to mentally shake off the image, but it somehow refused to go away, as though this situation was making him terrified. Granted, Sonic had been held in giant hands before, mostly from Eggman's giant robots like when just moments before the world was split apart.

But it was somehow different as even though he no longer had that little bit of darkness inside him, and the Werehog was gone, it wasn't something Sonic could easily get over, no matter how hard he tried. Breathing scaredly, he squeezed his eyes shut, the fear really getting to him.

"AAAAAAHHH! LEMME GO!" He screamed.

Just as Sonic thought he was finished, the sound of the alien babble made him snap his eyes open and instantly the realistic vision of his memories ended and reality came back to him. He found himself facing the Rotataron who was about to fire lasers at him before he looked to his right and saw the little alien hovering beside him with a concerned but determined look.

"You wanna help me?" He asked, surprised. The alien nodded, somehow understanding him. The blue hedgehog took a quick glance over the giant robot that was currently holding him in it's grasp before realizing what his new friend planned on doing. He nodded, deciding to take the chance. "Okay. I got it! Can you help me by lending me your powers for a little bit?"

The cyan alien made movements as though answering him as a yes, before circling around him and absorbing itself into his chest. Sonic waited until he glared at the giant robot, focusing hard and just when it was about to kill him, he shouted one word he knew that would both save him and end this battle.

"LASER!"

Transforming into a cyan laser once more which freed him from the robot's grasp, Sonic zigzagged across the frame before hitting the eye in the middle once more to the point where it couldn't handle the pressure anymore. It began to malfunction and jolt out of control while Sonic zoomed back safely to the ground and returned to normal, the alien coming out a few seconds later. The two jumped back into a safer distance as the Rotataron soon fell apart, though none of them were aware that one of it's arms flew off high into the sky and crashing into somewhere.

"Wooo! Yeah!" Sonic cheered in victory, and shared a high-five with his new friend who squealed happily, flying into air-somersaults and dancing around. He laughed. Sonic did a few victory jumps and poses himself while the robot was nothing more than a pile of broken metal.

"Heh. That wasn't so bad. I've faced worst creations from Eggman than this oversized tourist attraction." Sonic smirked, before turning to the alien and added. "Thanks for helping me, little guy. We make a great team!"

The alien happily nodded and affectionately hugged him on the chest, rubbing it's head on the peach part. Sonic chuckled softly and carefully hugged it back fondly. "It's gonna okay. You're free now. Thank you."

His new friend blushed a little, before it and Sonic ended the hug and with a wave of goodbye, it flew off to it's freedom. But as the teenager watched it leave, he turned back to the remains of the robot and couldn't help but frown. Not only was he disappointed with himself for having been captured that easily, but that moment of the sheer-terror flash-back made him feel uneasy. It had looked and even felt so real that he thought he was reliving it right before his eyes, as though he was experiencing it all over again.

"No." Sonic chastised himself, shaking his head firmly while closing his eyes, attempting to rid that moment of weakness of the adventure that, while he did once again save the world with the help of his friends, mentally scarred him. "Don't let it get to you, Sonic. It's all in the past. You gotta let it go. This is nothing like with Dark Gaia. It's different."

But no matter how hard he tried to tell himself that it was fine and that he just had a bit of a bad distraction, Sonic couldn't help but feel like that he really was beginning to lose his status of being able to handle things mostly by himself.

That alone scared him.

* * *

Even though the battle did leave him a bit shaken, Sonic distracted himself from that moment by releasing the other trapped aliens from the capsules and then explored more of the Resort while freeing more along the way, as well as checking out the stores and grabbing a bite to eat from, to his surprise and delight, a Chili Dog stand which he instantly bought and ate to his heart's content before finally racing back to where Tails and the curled alien were still at.

"Okay, just tighten this last bolt..." Tails was muttering himself, still working on his translator.

Sonic by then returned and nearly missed his best friend completely before skidding to a stop, and then went back to the young fox via moonwalking and stopped in front of him. The blue hedgehog dusted his hands off which caught his little brother's attention.

"Oh, there you are!" Tails greeted, pausing his work. "Where'd you run off to?"

"I did a little shopping, grabbed a bite to eat, and trashed a giant killer robot." Sonic replied casually while making hand movements to match the description.

"Really? They've got shopping here too?" The eight year old fox asked.

"This place has everything!" The fifteen year old hedgehog answered. While he still felt unsettled from his battle, Sonic was glad that this conversation was making him begin to forget about it and instead turned to the gadget in his companion's hands, placing his own behind his head. "Hey, so, how's that translator thingie coming along?"

"I think it's done. It's in binary code, so only I can read it." Tails replied, standing up and turned it own, aiming it's small satellite to both Sonic and their new alien friend. "Okay, ask away."

Sonic nodded and cleared his throat with a cough, before turning to the alien and asked it as clearly as he could. "Who are you and what is happening to your people?"

"%%#$& $$%^$% ." The little alien answered while spinning around and flopping up and down that sounded like gibberish. Tails recorded in his translator before reading it.

"Okay, he says that his name is 'Talks-a-lot'...and he's from a far away soda where flowers water them with dances...?" Tails translated, or at least he tried. Sonic and the little alien shared a glance incredulously while the fox attempted to translate, and both of them facepalmed themselves when they heard the soda part.

"Uh, yeah..." Sonic muttered a bit uncomfortably, while scratching behind his right ear before pointing at the machine and told his best friend. "I think your machine still have some bugs, li'l buddy."

Tails sweatdropped apologetically. "Yeah, I think I can figure it out." He then pushed the button once more and tried again. "Okay. He says his name is Yacker. He's from a race of beings called Wisps."

"Lisps?" Sonic blinked, incredulously.

"No, Wisps. With a W." His friend corrected.

A bit of an awkward pause.

"Yeah, I'll just stick with aliens, if that's okay with everybody." The blue hedgehog muttered, even by breaking the fourth wall and gazing at the viewers/readers, having whispered to them before turning back to Tails and the alien known as Yacker.

Tails was a bit confused by the statement, before deciding to forget about it and shrugged. He then read the translator once more and continued, "Sure. So anyway, they are either being used for their magical powers by an evil man...or to make underwear to be worn by salad."

Both Sonic and Yacker shared a glance with quirked eyebrows over the latter part, mentally agreeing that the former part made a lot more sense. Plus from what Sonic had witnessed and seen, that just raised his suspicions even more about Eggman's plot.

"Sorry. That last part didn't make any sense at all." Tails sheepishly rubbed the back of his head.

"Right, and putting them inside robots really doesn't make up the whole entire evil plot. There's gotta be more to what Egghead's doing than just repeating history back in Green Hill." Sonic remarked, folding his arms in concern. Yacker waved an arm over his face and even nodded at the blue hedgehog's assumption.

"I just hear 'save them, save them!' over and over again." Tails continued reading. Yacker nodded and held a pleading look with his two hands placed together in a begging position.

"Don't worry, Yacker. Of course I'll save them." Sonic reassured, and then remembered something before snapping his fingers with a smirk and explained to the others. "When I was running around trashing robots-and shopping, I saw a map that had a couple of interesting places. Think I'll go check 'em out and save more aliens! They gotta be there, right?"

Yacker cheered happily at the response and Tails smiled at the hedgehog for the great idea.

"C'mon, guys! Let's head over to our next destination! Operation: rescue aliens and stop Eggman, begins!" Sonic declared.

"Yeah!" He and Tails jumped into the air with Yacker joining them, cheering in his Wisp language.

* * *

Meanwhile, back at where the Rotataron's remains still were following it's defeat from Sonic, Cubot, Orbot, Decoe, Becoe and Bokkun were all left in charge in cleaning up the mess as punishment for letting Sonic win the fight and having freed the aliens. Each had wheeling bins, pickers, and brooms.

"Oh, man. I hate Sonic." Bokkun complained, struggling to lift a heavy piece of broken metal into the bin he was busy with.

"He always makes a mess of Dr. Eggman's hard work." Becoe groaned, sweeping smaller piles of metal into a growing pile.

"And we have to clean up after that hedgehog." Decoe added, scooping up the pile and dumping them into his bin.

Even Cubot was groaning, carrying his own bin behind him. "The bossman said to wrangle up every piece o' this mess. When you consider what we're doing from a robot's point of view, it's actually pretty gruesome."

"Don't think about it." Orbot suggested calmly, sweeping the ground without much complaint.

"Iffin' ya say so." The yellow cubed robot replied, before tossing an oversized piece into the bin, which was far too big for it. Orbot then noticed something is missing and began looking around frantically for it.

"I'm missing an arm." He announced, before asking his companions. "Have any of you got an arm?"

"Not me." Decoe replied, chucking half of one of the metal balls into his bin.

"I haven't seen it." Becoe shrugged.

"That arm is too big for me." Bokkun replied, before turning to the currently stupidst robot out of the five of them. "You got an arm, Cubot?"

"Naw." Cubot replied, before saying. "But really, how much could it matter?"

A bit of a pause.

"I suppose it doesn't." Orbot replied eventually and he and the other robots, who also decided to forget about it, just went back to their work. Even though the red robot just began to relax lazily once more.

What everyone didn't know was that the said missing arm, one that flew into the sky during Sonic's battle against the Rotataron, was far out of reach and sight for anyone to see. Because it was stuck halfway in some kind of giant reactor ray which had a few cracks in it, and slowly spilling out ominous purple energy into space.

One that would eventually lead to major trouble.

* * *

Meanwhile, Sonic, Tails and their new friend Yacker the Wisp were following the trail and map's instructions to where the shuttle that would take them to their next destination was. As they were, Sonic was retelling his and the Cyan Wisp's teamwork in defeating Rotataron. Though the only major thing that the blue hedgehog left out was the moment where he felt that flash of deja vu which had shook him to the core, but he refused to show it.

He didn't want to relieve that experience again, or make Tails worry. They already had enough on their plates.

"I really gotta hand to you, Yacker. You and your kind sure are extremely friendly. Can't believe that Egg-shaped loser would go as far as kidnap and hurt you guys." Sonic was saying, gently scratching the side of his face. He then shrugged with a sigh. "Then again, Eggman's always been like that; caring for nobody but himself."

"I still don't get why Eggman would do this to Yacker and all the Wisps, and then build this Amusement Park. It doesn't make sense." Tails muttered, while fiddling with the translator a bit more as they walked, or flew in Yacker's case.

"It's like I've been saying, li'l bro. Eggman plus secretly built amusement park equals evil plot for us to foil." Sonic rephrased his earlier words before he first saved the Wisps. "O'l Buttnik's at it again."

While Yacker giggled despite not knowing what Sonic and Tails were talking about, the young fox laughed at the Buttnik nick-name.

"I haven't heard you call Eggman that in a long time." Tails giggled, trying to cover it, but failed.

"You can thank Sun for re-establishing Ro-butt-nik's old nick-name, after I told him how you and I first met." The cobalt hedgehog snickered in amusement. That set off laughter between the two adoptive brothers and their alien friend who had yet to learn of their history.

Yacker then made more babbling noises, to which Tails attempted to translate once again.

"What's he saying?" Sonic asked, curiously.

"Um...I think he's saying the evil man appeared via chicken wings and was carrying a giant golden apple..." Tails read, only for all three of them to raise eyebrows, dumbfounded by this and shared incredulous looks.

"Well, I don't think Eggman's gonna hatch into a Chicken-man anytime soon." Sonic joked awkwardly. "Even if he is shaped like an egg. Plus he's too heavy to fly on his own, and he barely even fits in that mobile of his."

Tails sweatdropped at the joke, before pressing a few buttons again and tried reading once more. "Okay...Yacker says that the evil man appeared out of nowhere without warning, and almost immediately all of the Wisps knew he was nothing but trouble."

Sonic shook his head in exasperation. "Just like him to spring himself up and cause said trouble. I'm relieved that he hasn't split the worlds apart."

"I'll say. I still sometimes get nightmares of those horrible monsters related to Dark Gaia." The two-tailed fox muttered, only to gasp in horror and cover his mouth with one hand as he realized he blurted it out without thinking. He quickly turned to Sonic and stuttered apologetically. "Uh, n-no offense! F-forget what I said!"

"Come on, Tails. It's cool. More my fault that I brought that up in the first place. No biggie." The blue hedgehog reassured with a soft smile. Really, he hadn't been thinking, but each time he tried to forget much of the horrors of his last adventure, Sonic realized that he couldn't.

Because Eggman really was the cause of that to happen and whenever he thought about the mad doctor these days, Sonic always ended up remembering those times. Now the evil man was capturing and enslaving Yacker and the Wisps for not just powering up robots, but for something else. Something much more sinister. The blue hedgehog could feel it.

"Besides, I know that I won't be forgetting that adventure anytime soon, and as much as I wanna remember all the good times, I can't forget the bad times, ya'know." Sonic continued, and while he smirked to mask his fears, he tried not to succumb to that image he saw earlier. Plus being held in the giant robot's grasp was what brought back memories of his own nightmares back to light. Or maybe it had somehow plunged him into the darkness of those memories.

Fortunately, Sonic was saved from having to think uncomfortably about it or even discuss more about the previous incident. However, as he, Tails and Yacker realized that they reached the docking area to where their transport was waiting, all three of them flinched in a bit of fright and disgust when they saw that their ride was a shuttle-bus like rocket. It was painted red on the body, and it's front had a large metal head that was shaped exactly like Eggman's, skin colour and all.

"Ugh. Think I'm gonna be having nightmares of Eggman's Space-Bus with his ugly face on it for a while." Sonic groaned in disgust and exasperation.

"It's worse than his painting on the elevator doors." Tails shuddered, cringing back a little.

Even Yacker didn't like the look of it and shivered while rubbing his arms, as though he was feeling cold. Sonic glanced at him and felt sorry for him, knowing that that movement told him that the poor little Wisp was feeling the goose bumps and didn't need Tails to translate that.

"It's okay, Yacker. That's not the real Eggman." Sonic said softly, gently rubbing Yacker's head while trying not to accidentally hurt him or his cute little curl. "He just likes to show off his ego on everything he can try and get his hands on. That guy's not liked much by anybody."

"Poor Yacker. He must be so scared." Tails muttered, worriedly as he felt sorry for the Wisp too.

"Well after what he and the other aliens had been through, I'd be freaking out too." His best friend replied. "But anyway, let's board this bus and head over to wherever's close to investigate and save more aliens."

Nodding in agreement, the trio stepped onboard as the doors closed behind them, just as Eggman's annoying intercom blared to life once more.

"_**Welcome aboard Eggman's Egg Shuttle, the Space Travel express to other Eggman Attractions of the Intersteller Amusement Park! Please keep your arms and legs and other body parts inside the Shuttle at all times...otherwise kiss your lives goodbye if it crashes.**_" Eggman's PA announced.

"Not really a comfortable ride, then." Sonic rolled his eyes, as he, Tails and even Yacker all groaned in dismay.

None the less, they did their best to be comfortable as the Egg Shuttle then roared to life and then began flying off into space, leaving the main part of the Amusement Park behind and towards their next destination to their adventure.

* * *

**A/N: Not much to say here, really. Since it's really late, I'm gonna say goodnight and go to bed.**

**See you in the next chapter!**


	3. Chapter 3: A Delicacy Path

**Author's Note: Next stop, as mentioned in the reviews and as everyone who has played the game, is a world full of sweets!**

**I do not own Sonic The Hedgehog. All rights belong to Sega.**

* * *

_Chapter 3: A Delicacy Path._

As the trio settled in on the seats in the Egg Shuttle that was carrying them to one of the other planets in the orbit, Sonic decided to relax a little, arms tucked behind his head and one leg over the other as he tried to wait patiently for the stop. Tails was once again fiddling with his translator next to him, and Yacker was peering out of the window, both nervous and anxious on where they were going.

"_**Next stop: The Sweet Mountain. Enjoying our candy paradise is the perfect way to celebrate your birthday!...Or to avoid reaching it.**_" Eggman's intercome blared again, which disrupted Sonic's attempts for a small nap.

"Wow! A planet made from sweets and candy? That sounds awesome!" Tails remarked, pausing in his work and began to feel a bit hungry.

"A sugar world? Now that takes the cake." Sonic said, making the pun out of it.

"Sounds to me like you're about to meet your baker." The two-tailed fox couldn't help but laugh even as he tried to hide it.

The blue hedgehog glanced at him in amusement, opening his eyes with a teasing evil glint. "Oh, really? If I were to meet the guy, you can be assured that I'll be the one with the sweet victory."

Yacker had no idea what the two of them were talking about and gazed at them in confusion while they continued to make puns over Sweet Mountain and laughing before he gazed out of the window and then hovered over back to the duo who noticed his rather hyper-active movements.

"Yacker seems really energetic, kinda like you, Sonic." Tails noted as he and his best friend were watching him.

"Really? How so?" Sonic blinked in interest.

"Oh, come on. Don't tell me you haven't noticed. He's hyperactive, friendly, caring, wanting to help his friends and others, everything that makes you, you." His best friend giggled, which made the blue hedgehog blush in surprise and realization, not to mention embarrassment.

Sonic looked away slightly and scratched the back of his head, pointing out. "Come on, Tails. There's tons of people who are like that. Like you for example. The world would be no fun if you and me were the only ones like that, and I'm gonna speak for Yacker and say that it's the same in his world."

As he said this, he frowned a little, thinking over the situation that was happening. "Still can't believe Eggman would capture and imprison these aliens. The nerve of him...!"

"Hey, Sonic. Can I ask you something?" Tails began, curiously and a little concerned.

Breaking out of his angry thoughts over Eggman for a moment, the blue hedgehog nodded. "Sure, fire away."

"It may sound a little strange for Yacker, but...what was it like when the other Wisps went inside you?"

Yacker shrugged sheepishly to Sonic who admittedly found himself a bit caught off-guard over the question, before folding his arms in thought and tried to come up with a way to answer without sounding like he was speaking gibberish himself.

"Hmmm...Good question. It kinda felt like when I use the power of the Chaos Emeralds, only lighter. Almost as though...well, kinda like I was absorbing all kinds of powers of colour, like a rainbow or something." Sonic explained, gazing at his hands as he tried to describe what it felt like. He then held a concerned expression, adding. "But that wasn't just their powers I felt inside me. It was their emotions, too."

"Like what?" Tails asked, a little more concerned. Yacker held a sad expression while gazing at the blue hedgehog.

"It's almost like their feelings were mixed with mine. Not only I felt how happy they were in being freed from those containers, but they were so...so worried about their friends, and really scared of what's goin' on. Being locked up like that and no way out...it terrified them a lot." Sonic answered, and then turned to Yacker, saying. "I bet you know what I'm talking about, right Yacker?"

The little cute Wisp nodded with a sad look and a very worried expression. Even though they spoke different language, the alien somehow managed to easily pick up on what Sonic and Tails were saying.

" #%$&^#% $% %$%." He said in Wisp language, even though neither of his two new friends had any idea what he was saying, they could tell by the expression he had been scared despite trying to protect the other Wisps from the robots earlier.

"I bet Yacker and the other Wisps felt lost when they were taken away from their home." Tails muttered sadly, as he attempted to fix up the translator again.

"Who wouldn't be? Kidnapped from your home and then locked up against your will...I'd be in the same boat as these little guys." Sonic replied, and while he did feel terrible for not having known about this a lot sooner, he still held determination inside himself to continue what he started. "But I won't stop until all of these aliens are safe and sound and able to get back to their home world."

That seemed to cheer their new friend up, because Yacker beamed happily before excitedly flying around Sonic's head, squealing away which made both the hedgehog and his fox friend chuckle.

"I don't know why, but I think Yacker is saying thank you." Tails stated, as he attempted to fiddle with his translator in hopes to understand the Wisp better without reading it wrong.

"Aw, it's okay. I always keep my promises." Sonic reassured the cute alien. Yacker giggled before hovering over to Tails and gently landed on his head, making himself comfortable while gazing down at the hand held device. The eight year old fox giggled and Sonic chuckled at the scene. It was so cute to see them like this.

"I think we still have another 10 or 20 minutes before we get to Sweet Mountain." The young fox muttered.

"10 or 20 minutes too long. Oh well, wake me when we get there." Sonic shrugged, once again leaning in the seat and placed his hands behind his head before closing his eyes for a short nap. Tails nodded as carefully as he could and sighed while Yacker gazed at the cobalt hedgehog's relaxed position for a long time.

Seeing the hero for his bravery and kindness, for his fun, optimistic and carefree personality, the Wisp felt utterly admired by Sonic the Hedgehog. Plus seeing him sleep like this made Yacker think his new blue friend was cute. Just like how Tails' smile was adorable as well. He wished he could learn more about these two Mobians, as they were the kindest people he and some of his kind had ever met outside of their home world.

* * *

_"SONIC!"_

_Sonic gasped as he snapped his eyes open when he heard Tails' fearful cries, calling out his name. When he did, however, what he saw made his blood freeze icy cold. Not only he wasn't in the Egg Shuttle, but he was inside one of the cramped capsules completely locked. Even worse, in two other capsules on both sides of the one he was trapped in, were Tails on his right, and Yacker on his left, both of them looking terrified beyond belief._

_And he felt the same terror struck into the core of his heart._

_"Sonic!" Tails cried out again, fearfully._

_"Tails!" Sonic cried out, then turned to Yacker as the cute Wisp's gibberish squeals of terror were heard. "Yacker!"_

_Yacker was squealing, utterly scared._

_"What's goin' on? How'd we end up here?" Sonic demanded, trying to remain calm. Really, he was terrified himself as the very idea of being locked up like this was one of his worst nightmares. Then a horrible thought and realization hit him hard, and that realization was quickly confirmed as he and his friends heard the undoubtably familiar evil laughter above them._

_"Oh ho ho ho!"_

_Sonic, Tails and Yacker all glanced up to see Eggman slowly descend in his Egg Mobile with his trademark evil grin, as the said doctor declared. "Gotcha, you little hedgehog! And I have captured your two-tailed friend as well another precious alien!"_

_"Eggman!" Sonic yelled angrily, growling. "You set that Shuttle to trap us, didn't you!?"_

_"Right you are, Sonic! I set in a sleeping gas within the shuttle as I knew you were about to board, so that you could be fast asleep and easy to catch. Now with you two pests in my grasp, nothing will really stop me from harnessing these aliens!" Eggman answered evilly._

_"Oh yeah!? Think again!" Sonic shouted and attempted to spin dash his way out and smash the glass, only to come up short and repeatedly hit the super hard glass repeatedly until he ended up hitting the small floor hard and winced in pain. "Ow! What the...?"_

_"Sonic...! These containers can't be opened from the inside!" Tails exclaimed. "Yacker and the Wisps tried really hard."_

_"No way!" The blue hedgehog cried out, his heart leaping into his throat in horror._

_"Bwahahaha!" Eggman laughed evilly, causing the duo to gaze up at him again as he informed them victoriously. "That's right, hedgehog. These things are unbreakable on the inside, not even your speed can free you. I made doubly sure as these precious aliens hold more power than even Dark Gaia himself."_

_Sonic tried hard to hold in his fear by masking it with an angry glare, as he demanded. "What're you gonna do to these aliens?"_

_"That is something you will never know, hedgehog. Finally, victory is mine! Now then, I think you should get acquinted with an old friend, while I take good care of your buddy and the last alien for my take-over and grand opening of Eggman's Intersteller Amusement Park!" The evil scientist declared, pushing a red button on a remote._

_Before the trio could even think of what was going on, to Sonic's shock and horror, the Rotataron he defeated earlier emerged from behind Eggman's Mobile. As the blue hedgehog began to realize that the evil man had rebuilt it, he gasped as it reached out and grabbed the capsules that held Tails and Yacker imprisoned._

_"NO!" Sonic screamed out, and then tried to smash his way out by kicking and punching the glass, but it ended in futile. Desperate and losing his composture, he desperately pleaded. "Let them go!"_

_"Hahahahaha! HAHAHAHAHA! Sorry, little hedgehog. They belong to me now! Hope you enjoyed the Theme Park, because it's definitely your first and last visit! Please feel free to leave a Bill or a postcard...assuming you'll survive long enough. Goodbye, Sonic! And good riddence!" Eggman laughed evilly, flying off with the giant killer robot turning, with Sonic's two friends held in it's grasps._

_"Sonic! HELP!" Tails screamed pleadingly, terrified beyond belief. Yacker screamed out in his language for help as well._

_"TAILS! YACKER!" Sonic screamed out, devastated that he was trapped, powerless and unable to do anything to save them. He banged on the glass of his tiny prison in a failed attempt to free himself. Too late, he could only watch as the giant robot carried his best friend/little brother and new friend to the pitch black darkness of who-knows-where, out of sight and out of reach._

_"No...No..." The teenager denied, shaking his head as he refused to accept the reality. His legs were shaking to which he fell onto them, and then screamed out, tears stinging his eyes and blurring his vision. "NOOOOOOOO!"_

_"__**You have done it again, Sonic.**__" A dark, and extremely familiar chilling voice echoed behind him._

_Gasping at the sound of the voice, Sonic felt icy chills run down his spine and looked over his shoulder. He immediately regretted and cried out in fear, turing around fully and tried to crawl back, only to remember that he was trapped inside the capsule. Towering over him and his prison was the giant Werehog, blood red eyes, gazing down at the terrified blue hedgehog with a starving look. It bared his fangs in a twisted grin._

_"You!?" Sonic screamed. "I thought you were-!"_

_"__**I am never fully destroyed, Sonic. Your scent of fear will always bring me back. I am one with Dark Gaia, one with you, one with Sun...And now, your blood shall be my full resurrection.**__" The Werehog cut him off evilly. It then reached out for the capsule that held the frightened hedgehog who quivered._

_"But Chip and I defeated Dark Gaia! He's not supposed to wake up for another millions of years! You can't be awake yourself if he's not around!" The terrified hero of Mobius pointed out. "I don't even have that kind of darkness anymore and Sun's a normal hedgehog now!"_

_The Werehog didn't answer and continued to extend it's clawed hand towards him. Sonic whimpered in fear as he realized that he was done for. He knew in that instant that the giant monster that used to be part of his friend was about to eat him._

_"AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!" Sonic screamed as he squeezed his eyes shut, just as the giant Werehog grabbed the capsule, before everything went black..._

* * *

Sonic gasped loudly as he jolted awake, panting heavily and too quickly. Disorientated, he blinked as he heard Tails's concerned voice next to him. The blue hedgehog glanced to his left to see his little adoptive brother and Yacker, who now was floating again, gaze at him worriedly.

"Sonic? Are you okay?" The eight year old fox asked, after having jumped back a bit in fright when his big brother had jolted awake.

"T-Tails? Yacker?" Sonic whispered, breathlessly, still trying to make sense of the situation. He looked around and found that they were still in the Egg Shuttle, and from outside of the windows, he noticed that the sky was turning a hue of pink, like a mid-afternoon. "What happened?"

"You were having a nightmare." Tails replied, still very worried. "I know you said to wake you when we got to Sweet Mountain, but you looked like you were really scared. It scared _me_ a whole lot and Yacker and I were so worried, so I decided to wake you up sooner."

The word 'nightmare' made Sonic almost dizzy in relief, and then hearing the rest of what his best friend was saying made him sigh, realizing that the whole sleeping gas thing Eggman had said, and the return of the giant Werehog were not real.

"Phew. It was all a dream." The blue hedgehog muttered, leaning back on the seat and groaned. "Oh, man. Wasn't expecting that."

He then remembered that they were still inside the Shuttle and turned to best friend, asking. "Uh, buddy? You sure we're nearing Sweet Mountain and there aren't anything weird that'll give out sleeping gas or something? How much longer before we get there?"

"Sleeping gas?" Tails repeated that part of the sentence incredulously with a sweatdrop. Yacker tilted his head to the side slightly, not understanding what sleeping gas was, before the two-tailed fox answered. "No, I would've noticed by now and I don't think Eggman would put in something like that. And yeah, we're about five minutes away from Sweet Mountain."

"What a relief." Sonic sighed again, sweatdropping a little. Though he did feel claustrophobic again and grumbled. "The sooner we're out of this junk heap and outside, the better. It's taking way too long."

"...Are you sure you're okay? I mean, I know Eggman capturing the Wisps isn't a good thing, but I'm starting to think you're a little paranoid."

"Yeah, I'm okay. Don't you worry 'bout li'l ol' me. Just a crazy dream, but I'm fine. Really. But I still don't trust anything Eggman's up to and I'm still convinced whatever he's doing to these aliens is a lot worse than it looks." Sonic replied, seemingly perking up and recovering. In reality, though, he wasn't that fine. If anything, that nightmare he just had, even if it was just a five or fifteen minute nap, terrified him.

Okay, maybe he was a little paranoid about the sleeping gas inside this Egg Shuttle junk, and hoped that the real Eggman didn't get this idea in the near future, if at all. Still, he even as he grinned optimistically at his two friends, when they shared a glance, he looked away as it faded. The dream felt so real and he was scared to think of what could have happened if Eggman really did catch them even in their sleep. The intensed hopelessness of being trapped inside those capsules, Tails and Yacker taken away from him, before Sonic himself came face to face with his nightmare within the nightmare of the Werehog having somehow revived and still intended on eating him.

_"__**You have done it again, Sonic.**__"_

Done what again? He didn't do anything wrong this time or even being forced to help the mad doctor with his latest evil plot...Sonic was certain of it. Still, that didn't stop him feeling awful for not being able to have seen this a lot sooner, but he mentally shook his head. He had to save the Wisps, and figure out what is going on and how to stop Eggman's latest plot.

Fortunately, he was saved from unknowingly showing off his slightly frightened and very concerned expression when the Egg Shuttle finally came to a stop and the landed at the docks of their destination. Sonic immediately stood up as the excitement of exploring this world and the sense of freedom made him smile again. Tails stood a second later, and as the doors opened, the two friends and Yacker's eyes all widened in awe, surprise, disbelief and bewilderment.

"_**Welcome to the Sweet Mountain.**_" Eggman's intercom blared again, as Sonic and Tails began stepping out with Yacker following them via flight. "_**Insulin will be provided at a marginal extra cost. And by marginal, we mean enormous.**_"

"Whoa...!" Sonic murmured. Apparently when this world was called Sweet Mountain, they weren't kidding! Everywhere they looked, the entire planet really was made of nothing but sugar. From giant cakes, to humongous lollipops that seemed to act as this world's trees, different kinds of candy, chocolate, jelly, huge chocolate chip cookies, gingerbread, and surprisingly even food that didn't have sugar at all; some of the pies and even giant burgers.

Even the clouds, fluffy and normal, looked like they were cotton candy due to the seemingly never ending sunset.

"Man...This place really IS made of sweets and candy!" Tails exclaimed, his eyes wide and slightly twinkling in excitement like a child that he really was. Yacker looked from side to side, making cute babbling noises as though unable to believe such a place even existed.

"It's like every kid's dream come true." Sonic admitted, rubbing his nose. "Eggman wasn't kidding when he said that this is candy paradise."

The duo a step outside of the Shuttle, and stopped in mid-second step when they felt something very soft and squishy underneath them. Confused, Sonic and Tails looked down to that they were now standing on top of a massive cake, which spread out the rest of the road ahead of them.

"We surrounded by so many kinds of food, I'm starting to get hungry." Tails admitted as he and Sonic stepped out and after taking a few cautious steps, walked more normally once they realized they were not about to sink into the icing layer, or whipped cream layer of the giant cake.

"Careful, buddy. You eat too much, or touch something that other people-namely our resident madman-may have already stepped or eaten, and you could get sick." Sonic warned half-jokingly. Then again, it wasn't far from the truth. As much as he was starting to go hungry again himself, he didn't want to take the risks until he was certain, no matter how delicious this place looked.

"...Yeah, that's true. Think I'll be safer over the giant lollipop that Yacker's at." The two-tailed kit nodded in agreement, while gesturing at Yacker who was indeed going over one of the over-sized candy and was licking it happily to his heart's content.

"Well, while you guys are busy with that, I'm gonna go check this place out and find some more aliens to save. See ya' later!" Sonic smiled warmly at Yacker's happiness before waving at Tails and then took off running, with his best friend waving back at the blue hedgehog's retreating form.

* * *

Sonic passed by heaps of things made of sugar, from giant cups of honey-dripped tea, to giant doughnuts hanging above his head, and as he gazed around in amazement even through his speed, he yelped in alarm as he noticed a cannon that opened fire, sending out multiple missiles filled with jellybeans in his direction. The blue hedgehog zipped and ran side to side to avoid in getting hit, while he took the time in noticing things that were out of place.

Namely the mechanical machinery that looked like it was still constructing this attraction.

"Nice way to attract tourists to this place." The young hero remarked sarcastically after dodging the missiles and continued on his way. He then smirked and added to himself. "Strangely enough, this is like that second-half of the Library level in that Castle of Illusion video game that's pretty popular, only it's the real thing. Guess that makes me a Hedgehog version of that Mickey Mouse guy."(1)

He then encountered another robot, which was one of those Buzzers that saw him as a threat and made for an attack. Sonic rolled his eyes and easily stepped aside before taking it out in a spin dash, smashing it into pieces.

"Some things really never change." The blue hedgehog shook his head, exasperated, before smirking confidently again. "But hey, that means more fun for me!"

While he then continued down the path and jumped and leaped over boxes and cliffs made of more cake, Sonic had just reached the top when Eggman's obnoxious voice spoke over the PA again. He would've ignored it if the next words out of the man's recording hadn't gotten his attention.

"_**We know they look delicious, but please refrain from licking the rides. That would be disgusting. Do you know where those rides have been? People have been sitting on those rides–with their BUTTS!...Okay, go ahead, lick them. Don't say we didn't warn you.**_"

Sonic's eyes widened as he skid to a stop, and suddenly felt sick to the stomach despite not having even tasted any of food surrounding him yet, and now he was glad that he didn't.

"Now I'm really glad I warned Tails about what I said earlier." He muttered, horrified at the very thought. The blue hedgehog then glared up at the sky and grumbled, "Not that you'd do it, but how 'bout setting up warning signs about those rides at the entrance, Eggman?"

Deciding to keep on going, the blue hedgehog continued on until he noticed yet another capsule with another Cyan Wisp trapped inside. Seeing this made Sonic suddenly remember that nightmare, and he tried not to think about what would happen if he was in it, even though seeing these very friendly little aliens like this was devastating.

'_Poor little guys. Why does Eggman have to be so cruel?_' Sonic thought to himself, as he nodded to himself before racing over, and then opened up the capsule which allowed the Wisp to fly free. He gave the little alien a friendly smirk as it floated up to him, as though a little uncertain on whether he was to be trusted or not.

"Well, hi." He greeted, only to lean back slightly in surprise as the Cyan Wisp went up right to his face, as though suspecting him. Sonic sweatdropped a little as the alien circled around him slowly with a suspicious look which began to make him feel a little nervous. "Uh...Not the kind of greeting I had in mind."

The Wisp finally simply hovered in front of him, still staring at him.

"Easy, little guy. I'm not gonna hurt you." Sonic reassured, holding his hands up in defense, then curled his lips upward into a smile while pointing at himself. "I'm your friend. I freed some of your kind already and I know who's really behind all this."

Apparently the Cyan Wisp didn't think so, because it narrowed it's eye at him as though he wasn't to be trusted. While Sonic could understand it's hesitence given what Eggman has done to it and the rest of it's kind, he was shocked at it's hostility. Even more so when it began glowing and he could tell it wasn't because it was going to absorb itself into his body like the other Wisps he met had. It was going to attack him, as it began to power up into a laser itself.

"Woah!" Sonic yelped as he ducked just in time when the Wisp shot-lasered at him, but missed and nearly flew off the cliff but stopped and returned to it's normal form. As the alien babbled in frustration and was fuming, the blue hedgehog up stood up and practically pleaded in another attempt to get it to calm down.

"Wait, please! I won't hurt you, I promise!" The teenage Mobian cried out when he saw that it was about to attack again. "I'm not the one who did this to you! It's that fat man with the over-sized mustache!"

The Wisp by then already powered up it's power and charged again. The blue hedgehog quickly stepped aside at the last second to avoid in getting either knocked back or vaporized. Unfortunately, the alien was still charging straight ahead and Sonic saw where it was about to hit.

"Watch out for that chocolate wall!" He cried out. But it was too late. By the time the Wisp returned to normal and saw where it was about to hit...

_**CRASH!**_

The Cyan Wisp ended up half-way into the chocolate wall with it's head buried. Frustrated and dismayed, the little hostile alien squealed as it attempted to try and pull itself out, but the poor little thing was well and truly stuck. Sonic winced in sympathy, before hurrying over to help the little guy who continued to try and pull itself out in a futile attempts.

"Hang on, buddy. I'll get you out." He reassured, before gently grabbing it after a few failed attempts due to it squirming, and then gently instructed as kindly as he could sound. "Try and hold still for a few seconds, 'kay?"

Even though the Wisp still didn't fully trust Sonic, it stopped squirming all together due to the act of what the blue hedgehog was about to do. How he was gently holding it, and gave it reassuring and kind words, it surprised the alien. The hedgehog then pulled and tugged a few times before he successfully yanked the Wisp out with a loud pop, stumbling back clumsily before regaining his balance and letting go of the alien. The Wisp shook his head from the mixture of dizzy spells and a headache from the impact, before gazing at Sonic, now far less hostile and surprised.

"See? I'm here to help." Sonic said with a soft smile. He then snickered as he tried not to laugh, noticing that the Wisp was now half-covered in melting chocolate, and covered his mouth with one hand, and pointed at the alien with the other. "By the way, you got chocolate all over you..."

"#$%?" The Cyan Wisp muttered, before realizing that he was right. It looked at itself and felt embarrassed and guilty for having attacked Sonic, which resulted in getting itself stuck in the wall of chocolate in the first place. The little alien sheepishly rubbed the back of it's head, and giggling at the sweet mess it was in.

"Don't worry. It was just a big misunderstanding. Totally get why you were nervous." Sonic told it, and while he wished Tails was here with his translator, the blue hedgehog had a feeling the Wisp was apologizing for overreacting. He still tried not to laugh at the Wisp's current sugary coat, while the alien continued to laugh at itself before swiping the chocolate off it's arm and began licking it. It then spun around happily and continued to do it's best until it then had to shake off the rest of it before it flew over to the wall and began munching on it.

Sonic smiled before approaching the wall and took a chunk out of it before taking a bite himself. "Heh. Pretty tasty. Reminds me of the chocolate bars Chip used to carry around and offer to everyone he met. If he was still here, I'd bet he'd be like he'd died and gone to heaven."

As soon as he said that though, the blue hedgehog paused in mid-bite, and gazed at the chocolate wall which did resemble to the chocolate bars Light Gaia used to carry around, and even to this day, he still had no idea where the little pixie had managed to storage so many. The thought of his friend made him feel sad, as the reminder of never being able to see him ever again ached his heart. While Sonic was well aware that had to happen sooner or later once he and Sun had found out that Chip really was Dark Gaia's counterpart, the healer of Mobius, and he always managed to move on, just the very thought of not being able to visit Chip or speak to him even in the afterlife was still hard to accept.

Sonic remembered the last time he and Chip had their private conversation before they and Sun had to reach the final Temple of Gaia.

* * *

_Flash-Back: During the events of "Sonic and the Werehog"..._

_He had been unable to sleep, many thoughts of what he and Sun had learned today when Chip, finally having his memories back, had revealed who he really was. Given what has been happening, Sonic had a feeling that Chip was connected, which added to what Mnyambo told him._

_But to think that his newest friend was really Light Gaia, the opposite of the monster that Eggman had unleashed at the wrong time and wrong wake up schedule...It was unbelievable._

_Even more so that the full reality of what was going to happen hit him hard like a ton of bricks. Sonic found himself on the roof of one of the buildings in the Rooftop City, sitting on the edge with his knees to his chest and his arms hugging them, gazing mindlessly at the horizon before him. He had thought that Chip would find his way home after regaining his memories and Sonic would be able to visit him, and maybe they and Tails would go on more adventures together, not Dark-Gaia related, and have more fun._

_But now...now it was nothing more than a figment of his imagination, and wishful thinking. Because knowing that Chip was Light Gaia, once the planet was fully put back into place, he would have to go back to sleep for another tens of thousands of years...and Sonic would never see him again._

_He'd never been good when it comes to saying goodbyes. What hurt even more was that this was a permanent one, and it felt like he had to depart from a dear friend who had passed on._

_"...It's not fair." The blue hedgehog whispered miserably to himself. It was already bad enough that the very idea that Sun could be lost as well was hurtful. But to possibly lose BOTH of his new friends? How was the hero going to cope?_

_"Sonic?"_

_Blinking out of his thoughts, Sonic glanced to see Chip hovering beside him and he felt a case of deja vu. "Oh. Hey, Chip. What's up?"_

_"Are you okay?" The little pixie asked with a concerned expression._

_Normally he would reply that he was fine, and he wanted to say it, to reassure his friends, and not make them worried. But this time it was different. He was anything but. The world had split into pieces, Sun's true origins were revealed, and now knowing that Chip would have to leave, Sonic's heart felt like it was being stabbed several times._

_This time, he decided to be fully honest._

_"No. Not really." The blue hedgehog muttered, looking away. "I'm so sorry, Chip. You got woken up at the wrong time because I was too overconfident and got caught, and then I couldn't do a single thing to stop Eggman from using the Chaos Emeralds. Everything happened is all because of me."_

_"It's not your fault–"_

_"YES IT IS!" Sonic shouted in inadvertently, his eyes stinging with tears even as he closed them. "If I had been more careful, none of this would've happened! Sun wouldn't be in this position and at the risk of being eaten by Dark Gaia, I wouldn't have been constantly hunted and haunted by his Werehog half including the monster inside him, the world wouldn't have been in pieces in the first place, the Chaos Emeralds wouldn't have lost their powers, you wouldn't have lost your memories, and I..."_

_As he continued yelling out his pain and guilt, he paused as the very last thing he had to say couldn't seem to come out, because it hurt the most. But Sonic, the hero of Mobius, who had been crushed by his own actions and unable to be the said hero that he used to be, knew that he had to force them out. By then, tears leaked and as he opened his eyes, the slid free like streams of a river._

_He was crying. Sonic didn't normally cry and he had been good in keeping his sadness in check, but he couldn't right now. He dared to gaze at Chip who's eyes widened in shock to see his friend crying._

_"...I wouldn't have to say goodbye to you forever, little buddy. I know it's selfish, but...I don't want you to go. I don't want to not see you again." Sonic finished, turning away once more and sobbed._

_The blue hedgehog felt embarrassed and even more guilty for openly wishing for Chip to stay, but he couldn't help it. Even though he had been reassured that the reason he hasn't changed much because of his own heart, not doubting himself, right now Sonic blamed himself for everything. He continued to cry until he felt a gentle warm touch of someone gently patting him on the head. The blue hedgehog slowly looked up to see the sympathic and apologetic Chip in front of him._

_"Sonic. None of this is your fault." The little pixie reprised._

_"Then why does it still feel like it is?" Sonic asked hopelessly._

_"Because you love the planet so much, you've taken the responsibility of protecting it from evil solely onto your shoulders. Your love for the world and it's people is so strong that you have taken upon yourself to be it's guardian, it's protector, it's savior, it's defender. The hero of all Mobius." Chip explained, understanding Sonic's dilemma. "You're afraid of failing everyone, and that is one of your three greatest fears."_

_Despite himself, Sonic couldn't help but chuckle sheepishly, rubbing his nose as he replied. "Guess that means you can sense that I'm scared of Eggman winning and capturing me and then locking me up, right? Never woulda thought you can read my mind and my nightmares."_

_"Um, actually, I could sense it from your heart. Plus...Knuckles pretty much told me earlier that he thought you were scared of Beach-Ball Man winning and you try very hard not to let him do that." Chip admitted sheepishly._

_"Thanks alot, Knuckle__-__head." Sonic grumbled under his breath. He felt even more embarrassed now; had he really been that transparent?_

_"And not only that," Chip continued, getting the blue hedgehog's attention once more. "I...I don't want to say goodbye to you or anyone else, either. I had so much fun going on adventures with you. It's because of you that I had been able to fully live, to be what you and everybody else are. You are my very first friend, Sonic. I can't thank you enough for making me experience this journey. But we both know that it's for the best. You have the purest heart in the entire world."_

_More tears swelled up in Sonic's eyes, as he muttered choakily. "Aw, Chip...C'mere, buddy." He held out his arms to his friend who immediately accepted it and the two embraced each other tightly and longingly._

_After what seemed like an eternity, the two reluctantly let go and gazed at each other, and Sonic noticed that Chip had a few hints of tears in his eyes, even as the latter reached out and wiped away one from his emerald ones. Sonic wiped away the rest with a sniffle._

_"Want some chocolate?" The little pixie then offered, handing out yet another bar, this time to the blue hedgehog who smiled emotionally, knowing that it was to make him feel better as well as wanting to share this last moment together before their and Sun's final trek tomorrow._

_"Thanks, Chip." Sonic replied, gently taking the chocolate, then had a second thought and broke it into four pieces, and handed one back to Chip who blinked in confusion. "One for each of us; you, me, Tails and Sun."_

_"Huh?"_

_Sonic chuckled and winked, explaining. "To celebrate our brotherhood."_

_Getting what he meant, Chip nodded and plopped himself by Sonic's left and each took a bite of their pieces of chocolate while the blue hedgehog promised himself to give the other two pieces to Tails and Sun before their departure. The two friends shared this last moment of their friendship by gazing at the starry sky, knowing that they would have to say goodbye, but would always cherish this moment together forever._

* * *

End of Flash-Back:

'_Oh, Chip..._' Sonic thought, reminiscing his last peaceful night with Chip. His heart ached and while he had slowly began to come out of the guilt of what happened to Mobius, he still couldn't get over it. That nightmare he had earlier certainly didn't help, and the situation now wasn't helping either.

One thing he did know, however, was that Chip was right. He had taken full responsibility in being the hero of Mobius, the hero of the universe for that matter...Okay maybe not the whole universe, but still...

"%%#$&?" The Cyan Wisp's voice brought Sonic out of his reminiscing and he turned to see that the alien was gazing at him curiously and in confusion.

Realizing that he must've held a sad expression, because it also looked concerned. The blue hedgehog swallowed the mouthful of chocolate and scratched the back of his head sheepishly. "Sorry. Just thinking about a friend that I haven't seen in a while."

Then realizing that he wasted enough time, Sonic glanced around and saw that the only way to continue on was to get to another high point which he wouldn't be able to even on his own, and gazing at the chocolate wall at the same time made him have another idea. Nodding to himself, he pulled another large chunk and while hoping it wouldn't melt, placed it into his quills for later.

"Say, um, would ya' mind if I burrow your powers to get my way through? I can't get higher to save more of your kind or trash these robots on my own." The blue hedgehog asked.

Now fully trusting Sonic, the Cyan Wisp nodded and after finishing the chunk of chocolate it had, absorbed itself into him and in laser form, the hedgehog zipped his way up and through to another high point and over the chocolate wall, zooming over a few other places before the power wore off and he landed safely on the other side, just near a giant cinnamon roll that acted like a log. His new friend emerged from him and with a grateful wave and cute eye expresson that told Sonic that it was smiling, it flew off to freedom.

"Thanks, li'l buddy! See ya!" Sonic waved as he watched it leave, before turning and continued onward with the one thing he was best at.

Running.

He knew that he had a lot more work to do, but Sonic was determined to continue his journey and save more aliens, as well as fully understand what Eggman's latest evil plot is this time...Okay, it's his usual taking over the world plot, but what kind it is, Sonic had yet to learn and he wanted to know so that he could stop it.

While having fun along the way at the same time.

"What kind of adventure would be without fun and excitement, anyway?" Sonic shrugged to himself with a chuckle...only to unknowingly crash into a cake wall which left a crater shaped like him within it with a loud, "Omph!"

Not having looked where he was going, Sonic realized too late what had happened and unceremoniously fell backwards and landed on his back and onto the whipped cream cake ground with a moan, covered in cake crumbs and a bit of frosting.

"Ow...Wasn't participating that." He grumbled as he sat up, and rubbed his forehead, trying to numb the throbbing pain. "Sonic, you really need to look where you're goin'."

It wasn't until he noticed another capsule right next to him, realizing that he would've missed it completely if it hadn't been for the wall that currently blocked his path and he had no way to cross over it this time without a Cyan Wisp. To his surprise, the alien inside this one was different. It was yellow with a triangle shaped head, it's expression a little more light hearted than the white Wisps, not including Yacker who, in Sonic's opinion, was possibly the cutest out of all of them so far.

"Whoops. Guess I was so distracted I didn't see this little guy either." Sonic said to himself, more than a little embarrassed for almost missing the alien. He then stood up and easily cracked open the cramped prison, which released the yellow Wisp who flew out and, unlike the Cyan Wisp earlier, instantly flew around the hedgehog happily and gratefully.

"Hi to you too." He greeted. "You're more trusting than your friend was earlier. Not that I blame you guys for being scared."

The Wisps beamed happily, only for it and Sonic to instantly hear a buzzing noise coming up behind the latter who's ears picked up the noise quicker. He spun around and saw to his irritation and annoyance, three Buzz-Robots approach, all wearing chef hats and ready to fire jellybean missiles at him.

"Hey, now. It's very rude to interrupt a meeting between new friends." Sonic scolded calmly at the robots who responded by firing three missiles. Despite the odd numbers, he quickly kicked two and pulled the Yellow Wisp out of the way to avoid the third before he let go and went into Spin Dash, smashing them a few times, successfully destorying one, but irritated the other two.

Just as Sonic was about to finish off the other robots and the Yellow Wisp watching on in awe and about to lend him it's mysterious power, the ground suddenly shook and a huge rumbling sound could be heard, nearly knocking Sonic and the two remaining Robots off balance. Unknowingly, the third missile hit a cake mountain, and as everyone looked up, the blood in both Sonic and the alien ran icy cold...

Mainly because a huge avalanche of whipped cream began to descend down towards them!

"Whuh-oh!" Sonic exclaimed in horror, wide eyes and his emerald green pupils shrinking back with a huge sweatdrop. The alien squealed in fear, and even the robots flinched.

Worst part is...they were all trapped.

* * *

**A/N: Sorry for the cliff hanger(never been a fan of these, but sometimes there's not much of a choice), and I hope I did okay with this chapter. Do not worry, I will post the next one as soon as possible!**

**(1) Note: This level of the game really does kind of resemble to the Candy-Land part of the Library Level in Castle of Illusion Starring Mickey Mouse, especially the Remake. At least I think so.**

**See you later!**


	4. Chapter 4: Learning from Experience

**Author's Note: I want to thank you wonderful readers once again for liking this story so far. Without further ado, let's continue onward!**

**I do not own Sonic The Hedgehog. All rights belong to Sega.**

* * *

_Chapter 4: Learning from Experience._

The Avalanche of Whipped Cream was coming at them so fast that Sonic didn't think he'd be able to outrun this with the Robots in the way. Plus he had to keep moving foward, or how else was he supposed to continue on through out Sweet Mountain? Not to mention the Wisp he just saved-

He paused mid-thought as a desperate idea formed into his mind; The Wisp!

Running out of time, Sonic turned to the Yellow Alien who held a panicked look and the former cried out, "Um, if you don't mind and I know you got special powers, but can I burrow it, please? It's our only chance to-"

Apparently he didn't even need to ask, because the Wisp seemed to have the same idea. It nodded eagerly with a terrified expression and turned into energy before absorbing itself into Sonic who felt it inside his body. It was like the powers of the other two Wisps, but this one was different. It made him feel rather...dizzy. He glowed in bright yellow before finding himself drilling into the cake ground, drilling his way through the layers and underneath the wall.

Just in time too because about a second of two after Sonic drilled his way to escape, the avalanche came down and burying the path he'd just been standing. It was too bad the robots couldn't escape in time, and they and the remains of the destroyed one were buried completely. Though some of the cream went sliding into the nearly made tunnel and began flooding it.

By the time Sonic in his burrowed drill form as he took the risky path of going deeper until he reached the other side and dug his way out of the layers of cake on the other side just as the power wore off. As the blue hedgehog leaped out of the cake and landed on the path in a styled crouch, he stood up while the Yellow Wisp came out. The sound of more rumbling shook the ground and alerted both of them.

"Uh...You hear that?" Sonic asked the Wisp who nodded worriedly. They risked in looking over their shoulders back at the hole where they came from and their eyes widened as they realized what was happening. Panicking, the hero of Mobius turned back to the alien and the two shared a terrified look while he screamed out, "RUN!"

Sonic ran while the Wisp flew, already half way to safety as just seconds after the duo made it and stopped, turning back with soft pants, the whipped cream shot up from the hole and flowed like a fountain. But thankfully not much of a threat to them anymore. The blue hedgehog and the yellow alien both sighed in relief.

"Phew. Think he'll have _that_ on the tour?" Sonic remarked jokingly, almost dizzy both in relief and from the unfamiliar drilling power. The Wisp looked at him, dumbfounded and he smiled sheepishly. "Sorry. Couldn't help it. You okay, little guy?"

The Wisp, while still confused about the hedgehog's remark and joke, nodded and circled around him happily, squealing in it's language. While he still had no idea what it was saying and wished Tails was here, Sonic chuckled before it waved a goodbye to him and flew away to enjoy it's freedom. Relieved and glancing around once more, the blue hedgehog nodded to himself before continuing onward to continue his quest.

* * *

A little while later, Sonic ventured through more parts of Sweet Mountain while taking out more Robots including the Egg Spawns who also fired Jellybean missiles which he either avoided, or knocked away, a couple returning to where they came from and taking out the robots as he went. As he did, the blue hedgehog passed by factories that were way out of place, and smirked when he saw something that made him excited.

"It's too bad I can't eat the Candy Cane rails, but at least I can glide on them." He said to himself, making an acrobatic flip before landing on the candy cane grind rail, and surfed his way all over the place including around another factory that were producing over-sized doughnuts with chocolate frosting. As tempting as they looked to eat, Sonic knew better than to go straight for them...especially with Eggman's voice repeatedly putting him off.

"_**Due to cost restraints, some of the doughnuts used in this ride are of the stale variety. We apologize for this cost-cutting measure, and hope that you enjoy the ride.**_"

"I'd rather not ride any of the rides here, thanks." Sonic shook his head as he continued to glide his way, leaping off one grind rail to another, and avoiding more missiles that attempted to blow him up into smithereens. When he made it to the other side, he saw another capsule that had five white Wisps trapped inside.

So the blue hedgehog easily broke the seal of the container and the aliens were freed almost instantly. The all twirled and danced around happily, circling Sonic who smiled and then laughed as they all hugged him in their gratitude.

"E-easy, little guys! Ha ha ha! S-stop! You're tickling me!" He laughed uncontrollably when they accidentally hugged him where he was ticklish. Eventually they stopped and let go before flying away while waving goodbye which he returned. "Yep. I really like these aliens. They very friendly and darn cute."

Sonic then kept on going, and as he ran along the walls and passed by a giant hamburger, at first thinking it was real but when he got closer, he was majorly disappointed that it was yet another one of Eggman's metal attractions even if it did look very convincing at first. Once the blue hedgehog ascended on the grind rail all around the giant hamburger tower, and cheering on excitedly as he went, Sonic found that more robots were attempting to get to him.

Smirking, the teenage hero leaped and dodged their attacks of either the Buzz-Bots and their stingers, or the other kinds with Jelly Bean missiles and once he was close enough he used Spin Dash to knock them over before continuing on. He laughed with a grin and gave the robots a raspberry before leaping off the grind rail on the other side and made quick work with three more robots that stood in his way.

But as Sonic was running up another cake wall with his incredible speed, what he failed to notice was that one of the bots that he defeated wasn't completely out of commission. Before it malfunctioned completely, it fired it's last missile, and while it missed the blue hedgehog who heard the noise, he didn't have time to look. It exploded when it hit the wall and the force of the blast had sent him upward, much to his shock and surprise as he was sent flying high into the sky.

"Wooooooaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhh!" He screamed as he was frailing his arms and legs while flying over the giant cake slice before falling. Sonic eventually landed into the top scoop of a super-sized Ice Cream in a giant bowl that over-towered the platform with a sploosh, partially buried within the frozen sugar and cream.

Moaning, Sonic awkwardly pulled himself out without sinking in further in fear that his body heat would leave him trapped as an extra topping, sitting on his knees and hugged himself, shivering and chittering his teeth.

"_Brr!_ I-It's f-freezing!" Sonic shuddered while covered in some of the frozen treat. Even though he was a little chilled-no puns intended-at the freezing ice cream, he couldn't help but finally realize he was covered in such and while it was sticky, meaning that he'd need a shower later, he dipped his finger into the giant ice cream and took a cautious taste.

"Mmmm...But at least it's tasty." He added to himself happily, as the colour of it was pretty obvious, he landed himself in vanilla ice cream. Standing up, Sonic whipped the sticky mess off of himself as much as he could before looking around and wondered. "Though how am I gonna get out of it?"

"_Mmm! I love it!_"

"Huh?" Sonic blinked, hearing a very familiar and very welcoming voice. Looking around for the source, the blue hedgehog could have sworn he heard Chip, as though he was right there. But how could it be? It wasn't until he looked to his right and saw, to his utter shock, was the very familiar dog-like pixie happily licking and scoffing down the ice cream top. His heart leaped.

"Chip!?" He breathed, but as shook his head to see if this was real, when he looked again, his very dear friend whom he hasn't seen in two months had vanished right before his eyes, and there wasn't even a single trace of any marks left behind. Sonic frowned in sadness as he realized that it was all in his head, realizing that his mind had played tricks on him again, just like his battle against Rotataron.

"Aw, great. I'm hallucinating again." Sonic groaned, slapping his palm onto his forehead. Sighing, he rubbed his left arm and gazed at his glove's cuff, where Chip's necklace would've been if he hadn't been fearing in damaging it. After the run all the way to Spagonia to meet with Amy and the others, he had decided to leave it at home for safe keeping just in case.

It had been Chip's parting gift to remember him by.

_"I'll never forget you. I'll be here by you, always. A part of the earth you tread."_

"Chip...I never thought I'd miss you so much that I can't stop thinking about you. Or that a simple giant ice cream would remind me of our times together, or even cause me to start seeing things." Sonic whispered pretty much to no one, but he didn't care. Realizing what he was doing, he shook his head and muttered. "But I can't worry 'bout that right now."

There was then the irritating noise from his right and as Sonic looked, another Buzz-Bot was approaching him rapidly. He quickly stood ready while adding, smirking. "Especially when there are other things to worry about, like trashing these junk heaps!"

Sonic leaped out of the way to dodge it's metal stinger and as luck would have it, the robot ended up burying itself halfway into the ice cream which made his smirk widen. He curled up tightly into a spin dash and smashed it instantly. Pieces of metal flew everywhere, some falling over the giant bowl of ice cream, some onto the humongous frozen sugar.

"Too easy. I can't believe these robots are that stupid to get themselves stuck. Maybe their bolt-brains were overrided with thoughts of sweets and candy." The blue blur remarked in amusement, rubbing his chin. As he stared at the remains of the robot, he noticed one part of it looked large enough to act like a snowboard for him to ride on, and suddenly he had an idea. He grinned excitedly.

"Perfect." He muttered to himself.

Taking the broken piece of metal, Sonic positioned it onto the ice cream and after a mental countdown, he dipped forward and began snowboarding, or rather, ice-cream-boarding down the mountain of the frozen treat as though he was on a mountain of ice cream...which wasn't far from the truth.

"WOOO HOOOOOOOOO!" He hollored happily, having tons of fun. Sonic then saw he was nearing the edge and being the daredevil that he was, he leaped and jumped with the metal still underneath him, and he sent himself flying over while performing mid-air stunts with his makeshift board.

As he began to descend back to the cake path, he noticed three more robots seemingly waiting to get rid of him. But Sonic was confident in taking out these things. He spun the piece of metal his hand before tossing it at one of the bot's heads, smashing it off and as he karate-kicked it's torso, he jumped and hopped onto the other two, leaving them to be accidentally destroyed by one of their own while he landed safely and immediately ran off.

"Yeah! Don't mess with _this_ hedgehog!" Sonic declared with a grin, before quickly spotting another capsule and another dead-end. When he cracked it open and freed the trapped alien, it was another Yellow one who spun around happily, relieved to be free and gazed at it's blue heroic savior.

"&%$#!" The Wisp babbled happily, though Sonic still had no clue what it was saying, but he half-thought it was thanking him for saving it's life.

"I'm not sure what you're saying, but it's alright now. No robots is gonna be hurting you anytime soon." He reassured, only for the alien to shake it's head, and pointed at him, then at itself, and then at the ground. He blinked in confusion, before pointing at himself. "Huh? You...wanna lend me your powers?"

The cute alien nodded eagerly.

"Well, okay. If ya' say so." Sonic replied, smiling. How could he say no to these adorable little guys? Besides, it made it a bit easier for him to get through the cake walls.

The blue hedgehog braced himself when the alien turned into yellow energy and entered his body where he focused hard. At first he couldn't remember what he had to do in order to get this power to quick, before it came to him and he jumped high into the air.

"DRILL!" He shouted, transforming once more and drilled into the cake ground in great power and speed. Though he was met with some trouble as there were robots that could drill as well, and he couldn't fight them in is current position.

So Sonic drilled his way as fast as he could from the machines which began to follow him before he leaped out of the ground and while the alien waved happily at him before taking off, he returned it before running himself to avoid the robots attempting to kill him. He managed to out run them and once again glided his way on another grind rail before finding himself back on the ground and spotted another capsule of another captured alien.

Except this one wasn't white, cyan or yellow. It was orange, similar to the Drill Wisp, but slightly taller and had three eyes instead of one. None the less, Sonic jumped and smashed the button to open it, letting it go. The orange Wisp stared at him, a bit nervously and hidden itself behind a giant chocolate cookie.

"Hey wait, little guy!" Sonic called out, gently reaching out to it. "Don't be scared, I won't hurt you. I'm a friend. It's okay."

The orange Wisp nervously peered from the cookie, to see the hedgehog's gentle and friendly smile, his hand still reached out for it in a kind gesture. It blinked it's three eyes shyly, before slowly emerging from the cookie and Sonic waited patiently for it as it approached slowly but carefully. It reached out one of it's hand-tentacles and laid it on top of the tips of Sonic's gloved fingers. He gently held it with a delicate chuckle.

"See? I'm here to help." Sonic told it warmly and gave it a wink.

Seeing that the hedgehog was telling the truth and was indeed very kind and brave, the orange Wisp's fear vanished instantly and twirled around him happily, before it turned into energy and absorbed itself into him. Not sure what to expect from this alien, Sonic suddenly felt himself being lifted up and he punched his fist into the air, before being transformed into a rocket-literally.

"WHOOOAAA!" He yelled out as he was sent blistering into the air in amazing speed, though once he was high around, Sonic returned to normal and descended to the ground. He spun forward before landing in a crouch safely, and as he stood up, the orange alien emerged from him, waving at him happily before taking off. Sonic waved back.

"Turning into a rocket was unexpected, but kinda cool too." He said to himself.

* * *

Continuing onward, Sonic defeated more robots and freed more Wisps along the way, lending him their powers of either Laser or Drill or even Boost. A few rocket ones, somewhat timid by him but grew to trust him, lend him the power of Rocket when he needed it the most. All the while passing more of Sweet Mountain of finally finding pies as well as different kinds of berries. He even found piles of popcorn and Waffles with maple syrup and despite the overwhelming tons of sugar, he really began to feel hungry.

"Man, this entire world looks so delicious, and Eggman had to go and ruin it with his machines, construction work, robots and stuff." Sonic grumbled to himself, burrowing the power of laser from another Wisps as he took out five more robots.

"_**There's no line like "Bake Me Crazy", the ride that simulates what it's like to be baked like a cake! The ride itself lasts an amazing 20 to 25 minutes or until golden brown. Not recommended for our guests who are sensitive to temperatures exceeding 350 degrees.**_" Eggman's intercom blared once more.

The blue hedgehog held a dried look of disbelief, as he said half-sarcastically. "I'm pretty sure everybody's sensitive to temperatures around 350 degrees, unless their name's Dark Gaia. Heck, even Chaos wouldn't last in that kind of heat and he's made of water!"

As he was thinking this over after bidding farewell to the Wisps, he was suddenly ambushed by more Jelly Bean missiles that almost caught him off-guard. Yelping in surprise, Sonic leaped and ran to avoid in getting shot and he was even more surprised that a pirate ship that flew was behind it this time. It also fired giant candy balls from it's cannons at him. The hedgehog bashed the candy balls with his spin dash, smashing it into pieces and repeated the progress before kicking one of two of the missiles at it.

The ship which was also made mostly of sugar, was sent down to it's demise.

"Heh. Yo-ho-ho, down you go." Sonic taunted in a fake pirate accent, before cringing as he realized how awful he sounded. "Ugh, note to self; never pretend to be a pirate. That kind of voice is no good for my coolness factor."

He was about to keep going when he noticed another capsule ahead of him. Seeing another trapped alien inside and wanting to help them quickly, Sonic raced over and opened it, releasing it. He wave it a friendly wave, and greeted, "Hi there."

However, he was surprised that this one seemed to be the most scared one out of the Wisps he saved so far, because it flinched in fright with wide eyes and flew away into the sky.

"H-hey, it's okay! I'm not gonna hurt you!" Sonic cried out reassuringly and worriedly. "I didn't mean to frighten you, I promise!"

By then, the Wisps was far too high and far gone. Sonic groaned to himself, feeling guilty for having inadvertently scared it. He didn't blame the alien for being scared, though. It must have been truly traumatized because it's been held captive for so long. He muttered in sadness as he gazed at the ground. "I'm sorry."

But as Sonic closed his eyes to think of how to make it up to the poor thing later, and was thinking about how he could somewhat relate to it, knowing how scared he felt when he had that sense of hopelessness and terror that was hard to control, he heard an awfully familiar voice speak right behind him...far too close to his liking.

"_**YOU LET EVERYONE DOWN, NO MATTER WHAT YOU DO.**_"

"HUH!?" Sonic gasped, snapping his eyes open, and could've sworn his heart went up to his throat when he suddenly found that the entire area changed all around him. The sky was black and purple, the cliff he'd been on was all dry with dead grass, down below was molting lava, and there was a deathly cold chill that felt so real. "W-what's goin' on? Where am I?"

Then he could've sworn he felt hot breath down his head and quills, all over the back of his body. Freezing up almost entirely and softly gasping again, Sonic felt another case of deja vu. He looked over his shoulder and like in his nightmare, regretted it, because towering over him was...the giant Werehog beast that was once inside Sun the Hedgehog, leaning right at him, it's mouth partially open and revealing it's inner chamber of sharp fangs and teeth, big enough to fit the blue hedgehog and more.

Without realizing it, the blue hedgehog was overcome by fear and disbelief.

"AAAAAAAHHHHH!" Sonic screamed in horror, and made a run for it, only to remember too late that he was on the cliff, and skid to a stop before he ended up plummeting to his untimely demise. Turning around, frightened out of his mind with nowhere else to run, he backed away but stopped when his heel chipped off a piece of rock. He watched the tiny piece call into the lava below, before turning back to the Werehog that suddenly had him trapped as it grinned evilly and hungrily.

"T-this can't be happening! This is a dream! It's a nightmare! It's-it's-it's a hallucination!" He yelled out, panicking. The terrified hedgehog then knocked himself on the head with both fists and squeezed his eyes shut, screaming at himself. "Come on, Sonic! Snap out of it! This isn't real! You're being paranoid! Wake up! WAKE UP!"

"_**YOU CANNOT ESCAPE YOUR SINS, HEDGEHOG. YOU WILL BE PUNISHED DEARLY, AND YOUR ACTIONS HAS SPREAD ACROSS THE UNIVERSE.**_" The Werehog said darkly, chuckling cruelly.

"NO!" Sonic screamed, falling to his knees and covering his head. "That's not true! I made up for my mistakes! I helped Chip to restore the planet! I helped him beat Dark Gaia! I didn't anything wrong since then! I'm trying to save these aliens from Eggman's new evil plot! I just don't know what it is yet!"

"_**ARE YOU CERTAIN YOU ARE NOT THE CAUSE OF THESE ALIENS BEING FORCED FROM THEIR HOME?**_" The monster taunted.

"YES, I'M POSITIVE!" Sonic shouted, glaring up at the beast which he was still pretty certain was all in his head, he just found himself mentally trapped for whatever reason. "I'm here to stop that Egg-shaped creep and save them! Why else would I come here and investigate this Amusement Park?"

That only seemed to amuse the Werehog, because it began to laugh even more. "_**YOU ALWAYS WERE THE AMUSING ONE...AND DELICIOUS LOOKING. OH, HOW I WAITED FOR THE TASTE OF YOUR BLOOD, LITTLE HEDGEHOG.**_"

That made Sonic shiver in terror, scooting away as far back as he could while the horrible beast reachedout it's hand to slowly grab the terrified hedgehog. He whimpered, shaking his head. "No...NO!"

Unfortunately, as he tried to get away, he forgotten about the cliff for the second time and when Sonic's hand was met with air, he stumbled as the ground crumbled underneath him. Yelping in surprise and fear, he fell backwards and descended down below.

"_AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!_" He screamed as he braced himself for his fiery end...only to land in something a bit more softer and far more safer...relatively speaking. The blue hedgehog felt not the hot boiling lava as he half-expected, but a large pile of something round and slippery.

Gasping as he snapped his eyes open, the dark, terrifying scenery was gone. In it's place was the world of Sweet Mountain, and as Sonic looked around, he found himself in a huge pile of giant blueberries, which were about the same colour as his fur, in a huge pastry in a large round tray, on a huge moving sidewalk or whatever it was called. It also had trays of the same thing, except there were also cherries, apples, blackberries, ect., all moving along slowly. Panting and disorientated, he looked up to see where he'd fallen and saw that the cake cliff he'd been standing on had been crumbling.

But there was no trace of the Werehog at all. It really had been all in his head.

"Phew..." Sonic sighed in relief, leaning back in the over-sized blueberries. He smiled weakly at himself, chuckling nervously. "It's okay, Sonic. Just a crazy hallucination. It's not that bad. Heh...Could be worse."

Unfortunately, he opened his mouth far too soon, because it suddenly became dark and when Sonic opened his eyes to see what happened, they widened in horror as he saw that the sky was blocked out by something, with a large hole line cut in, revealing very little light shining through. Gasping in alarm, as new fear replaced the one that was his memories haunting him in realistic hallucinations, Sonic looked around quickly before standing up without slipping and attempted to pull and dig his way out.

The top layer was freshly made dough, flattened to cover what he realized was a giant blueberry pie he'd ended up falling into to finish it off. He pushed and shoved and while it came away easily, it was still awkward as it was sticky. The blue hedgehog pulled himself out halfway, and looked over his shoulder, only to feel his blood freeze in sheer terror as he gasped in absolute horror.

While not originally part of the world, he was certain of it, most likely due to Eggman building it as part of the Amusement park, he was heading straight towards an opened factory which acted as a giant oven. Because as several newly made pies were going on, he could see that coming out of the other side were freshly baked ones, steaming hot and being carried away to be served in another construction part.

And Sonic was about to become part of the blueberry pie if he didn't get out of there quickly.

"AAAAAAHHHH!" He screamed and attempted to pull himself out, but since he had to pull himself up awkwardly, his legs were dangling in the inside and the dough was too soft for him to fully break. Sonic found himself trapped halfway out while desperately trying to free himself to no success. "It's that bad! It's really bad! AUGH! THIS IS WORSE!"

While he was trying to free himself before he ended up baked, and Sonic was beginning to think that maybe this is the "Bake Me Crazy" ride Eggman was talking about, the orange Wisp that had been scared of him heard him screaming and, curiosity getting the better of it despite the trauma had had gone through, flew back to the way it came and saw the blue hedgehog desperately trying to get out of the pie that was about to be cooked.

It then noticed where he was being carried to and it's eyes widened in shock, before glancing down at Sonic who was terrified while trying to save himself, but was running out of time. Seeing this made the Wisp begin to realize that the blue hedgehog had freed it, and was now in danger himself.

"HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME, PLEASE!" Sonic by then was screaming while he still tried to escape. "I DON'T WANNA DIE LIKE THIS! SOMEONE GET ME OUTTA OF THIS THING!"

Hearing his cries for help, the Orange Wisp, despite the opened giant oven that was dangerously close, flew down towards the trapped hedgehog who was just now slow seconds away from entering the 350 degree heat and he could see the flaming torches that were being used to cook the pies. Sonic gasped and tried harder and faster to get himself out, while closing his eyes in desperation but at the same bracing himself for his bittersweet end.

'_This is it! I'm done for!_' The terrified hedgehog thought to himself. He couldn't believe this is happening, and all because of a hallucination that made him inadvertently plunge himself to his own death. He didn't want to believe that Eggman has won, but the reality of it was beginning to sink in. Sonic would never see his friends again. He wouldn't be able to save the rest of the aliens or the worlds.

Just when Sonic thought he was about to die, he heard the welcoming sound of Wisp babble, and opened his eyes and looked up to see the Orange Wisp he saved earlier and had been terrified of him descend and circle around him. Looking at it briefly before turning back to his upcoming doom, he desperately turned to the alien with pleading eyes and a terrified expression.

"Please, help me! I can't save your friends if I'm cooked!" Sonic begged. "Lend me your power just this once, PLEASE!"

The orange Wisp was stunned to hear this, both that the hedgehog had saved some of it's kind, that he was willing to help them, and how scared he looked, much like how it felt earlier. It looked at the approaching heat, and then, making up it's mind, nodded with determination and turned into energy before entering Sonic's chest. Just moments before he would end up entering the giant oven, he shouted the one word he knew that would get himself and the Wisp out of this mess and fiery death.

"ROCKET!"

Turning into a rocket once more, Sonic blasted off from the giant blueberry pie just seconds before it finally entered the factory and was baked. The hedgehog in the meantime shot up high into the sky before returning to normal and descended down once again. This time he landed on the safe path away from the factory and into a softish pile of popcorn, sending kernels flying everywhere upon impact.

After a few moments of silence, Sonic emerged head first from the pile, brushing away other piles as he dug himself out, and simply sat in the popcorn that cushioned his landing. The alien then popped out of him and hovered beside the stunned hedgehog, both of them gazing at the factory above them. To think that he'd come extremely close in being cooked to death as an extra flavor to the giant blueberry pie, and that he was here right now, miraculously still alive, Sonic felt dizzy in relief and out of breath.

Moaning, he laid back into the soft, welcoming pile of food that wasn't about to be baked and was already cooked and not boiling hot, and gave out a tired smile.

"Man. A few more seconds and I woulda been turned into a Hedgehog Pie." Sonic muttered half-jokingly as he gave out a weak laugh. The Wisp glanced at him and hovered closer. The blue hedgehog glanced up at the alien and smiled gratefully. "Thank you. I'm sorry for scaring you earlier, little guy."

The Wisp, now fully trusting Sonic and happy to have saved him just as he saved it's life, perked up happily and leaped into the hedgehog's chest for a hug, squeeling and nuzzling into his peach fur. Sonic laughed and hugged it gently back, more than grateful that it came back just in time. He knew that if it hadn't, he'd be dead by now.

"Thanks for saving me. I really owe you." He whispered. They stayed this way for a little while longer, before Sonic let go and his new friend did the same. The two shared a high-five before it did a mid-air somersault and waved at him, then flew off once more. Sonic waved back at it, and sighed, feeling a little bit better.

"What a crazy day, and it's not even over yet." He muttered to himself, before realizing that he felt something irritating in his right ear. The blue hedgehog then attempted to get whatever it was out, only to realize that he couldn't reach it with his fingers. So he leaned sideways and slapped the left side of his head in hopes of clearing it. A piece of popcorn went flying out with a pop and flew off out of the pile and down into the clouds below.

Blinking, he shrugged sheepishly. "Hope no one gets that kernel."

"Sonic!" Tails' voice cried out from his left.

Surprised, Sonic looked to see his best friend/little brother and Yacker fly over towards him, looking all panicked and gravely worried and quickly relieved to see that he was alright. In retrospect, he almost felt dizzy in relief again to see both of them, but he masked his relief with his usual optimistic smirk.

"Hey, guys! Glad to see ya." Sonic greeted with a casual wave. He stood up from the pile and dusted himself off just as Tails landed in front of him and Yacker twirling around worriedly.

"Yacker and I heard you scream for help! What happened? Are you okay?" The two-tailed fox cried out frantically.

"Yeah, I'm fine now. Long story short; one of Yacker's buddies didn't trust me and was scared, and I kinda lost my footing and fell of a cliff. Landed in a giant blueberry pie that was about to be cooked, and then the little guy came back and saved me with his Rocket Power and we landed here. Let me tell you, I thought I was finished. Sorry to worry you two." Sonic explained casually as he scratched the top of his head, while mentally still in shock himself.

Tails paled at the thought as he and Yacker listened to Sonic's story, before the former held a mixed expression of fear, relief and utter guilt and looked ready to cry, but tried to hold it back. "I-I'm so sorry, Sonic. I-I wish could've been here on time."

"Hey, hey, Tails. It's okay, really! It's alright, now. It's my own fault for not looking where I was going." Sonic quickly reassured to try and get his little brother to calm down. Seeing that he was having limited success, he gently pulled the upset fox into his arms, as Tails hugged him back and began crying silently. The blue hedgehog gently stroked and rubbed the kit's back. "Shhhh...It's okay, li'l bro. Calm down. Everything's okay."

"S-Sonic...I woulda lost you...and I wouldn't even know it...!" Tails sobbed.

"Shhhh...Tails, it's okay. Don't cry. I'm fine, now. Perk up, 'kay?" Sonic soothed. Though to be fair, he felt like crying himself, but for his best friend's sake, and not wanting to let out his emotions into the open, he masked it and focused on comforting his distraught little brother. He was utterly relieved that he was still alive, and in that moment didn't want to let go. He mentally cursed at the hallucination that almost gotten him killed, that almost made him fail his quest, and almost made him never see his friends/family again.

Yacker, not understanding what had really happened but sensed the sadness and comfort from the duo, hovered over and patted both Tails and Sonic on the head in his efforts to comfort them. The duo smiled gratefully at him, and smiled at each other, pulling away slightly as Tails wiped away his tears.

"I'm so glad you're okay, big bro." The eight year old fox said, more calm now.

"You and me both, buddy. I gotta admit, I was scared too. But I ain't gonna let that stop me now." The blue hedgehog admitted, and shrugged apologetically. "Wish I could catch up, but I've got more aliens to save and a mystery to solve."

"You go, Sonic!" Tails cheered, before adding. "Just try and avoid falling into any more pies, okay?"

Sonic grinned sheepishly again, scratching the back of his head. "After today, I'm not gonna be going near _any_ pies for a very long time."

Waving a goodbye to Tails and Yacker who also felt relieved that everything was fine at the moment, the blue hedgehog sped off down the cake path.

* * *

Apart from a few more robots that got in the way, the rest of the path was surprisingly uneventful. Sonic was a little bit grateful for that short break as he'd still been more than a little shaken from nearly being baked alive. As he saved more aliens, the blue hedgehog finally reached a large metal platform with a spectacular few of the sunlight. He has always been a fan of sunsets and sunrises.

Okay, so he's a fun of scenery and nature in general, even if nature here was made from sugar. He noticed something large and metal from afar and decided that his next bet would be there.

"If I were an alien in need of saving, where would I be?" Sonic asked himself, thinking as he slowed to a stop. He knew that would be tons more, seeing how Eggman had captured so many. How did that fat head do that, though? What did he really want with them and their powers?

As he looked up, the blue hedgehog saw a large contraption with purple electricity, like a generator of sorts. He smirked and approached it with caution.

"Experience has taught me to investigate anything that glows." Sonic mused to himself, only to stop in his tracks when the ground began to rumble. Glancing around in alarm, he turned to his left and saw out of the clouds was a giagantic pirate ship that floated. It was literally made from cookies, cakes and candy. The only thing that was out of place was the hideous decoration of Eggman's face.

At least it wasn't a giant pie or an over-grown opened oven. The blue hedgehog chuckled. Finally, a real challenge!

"Experience has also taught me that the best way to solve problems is to kick robot butt!" He added with a large smirk as he dramatically did a round kick. But as he was about to jump on board to deal with the boss of this place, Eggman's annoying voice echoed once more.

"_**Visitors are cautioned to avoid feeding, petting or saving any aliens.**_" Blared the PA, which made Sonic groan and shake his head in exasperation. Didn't the guy get it in his head that the blue hedgehog would always break these stupid rules?

"Oh well." He muttered with a shrug, before turning his attention back to his opponent, calling out to it with a grin. "Excuse me, giant killer robot. You wanna do this the hard way, or the easy way?"

At the hull of the floating ship was a large robotic pirate that was candy coated, spinning around a few times with an angry look before swinging it's lollipop sword at Sonic. At the Pirate Captain, Captain Jelly's signal, a cannon fired a huge bomb. The blue hedgehog flinched in shock before leaping back with a yelp, narrowly avoiding in being blown into pieces.

"Somehow, I knew you'd say that." Sonic remarked as he quickly recovered, his smirk returning as he pointed at his opponent. "Let's dance!"

The ship began to try and get away while Captain Jelly ordered the cannons to be fired again at the blue hedgehog. Sonic laughed with confidence as he dashed forward, easily stepping from side to side to avoid the candy balls before taking a huge leap and landed safely on the deck. Though he was met with a line of more cannons that were aimed directly at him near where the robot is.

Sonic wasn't worried, though. He curled up to spin dash and smashed and bounced at the candy balls that would've killed him. The blue hedgehog then leaped and avoided others as he tried to figure out how to reach the main boss. As he did, he noticed a lever that was shaped like a blue lollipop and had an idea.

"Worth a shot." He muttered to himself as he raced forward to reach his goal. Sonic gave it a real hard kick with a yell and the next he knew the entire ship rumbled and began to fall. While he sweat-dropped for not thinking ahead, as luck would have it, it was descending towards a long giant cake piece and decided to jump off the ship and landed on the frosting ground.

Just in time too because the ship landed on it's side with a huge thud, though apparently the Robot-Pirate(he would've called it Pie-Bot, but quickly dismissed it as it reminded him too much of the giant pie he was almost baked in) had other ideas. Because it decided to hop out and landed on the cake as well. It was half the size of the Ferris Wheel, but that didn't bother Sonic at all. Though it would still prove a challenge.

But hey, where's the fun in boss battles if they were that easy?

"Hey, Candy-Face! Let's see how fast you can hop!" Sonic taunted, clapping his hands above his head and ran, willing for the robot to come after him. He jumped just as his opponent, angered by the insult, hopped and bounced repeatedly while trying to give chase. The blue hedgehog in the meantime went into spin dash to take out the minions that appeared and were hopping themselves. It wasn't that much of a problem as, despite them not holding still, they never stood a chance.

The big guy on the other hand, even as Sonic smacked one of the smaller robots at it, not only didn't get a dent while on the ground, but it really had it out on him, even to the point of inadvertently smashing his already smashed minions.

"Aw, you're hurtin' your babies, big guy! That's not good parenting." Sonic mocked a scolding, hopping again and continued teasing it while daring it attack. "Come on, slow poke! Over here! Catch me!"

He considered attacking it, but then remembered that he can't do too much damage. Unless...maybe if he hit it while it was in mid-air...

Nodding to himself, Sonic waited as Captain Jelly jumped high again to crush him. But he was ready for it, and leaped high himself before karate kicked and punched at it's head and side, and spin dashed into it's chest, knocking it back to the ground where it landed in a crash. While he didn't completely destroy it yet, it was a start.

As Sonic landed back onto the ground himself, Captain Jelly hopped back up with a furious mechanical yell before leaping back onto his ship. Realizing that it was about to move, the blue hedgehog quickly ran towards it just as it freed itself from the mound of cake. He made it just in time and sighed in relief at the close call, before glancing around to find out where his robotic enemy had gone off to.

He didn't need to worry, because he spotted it at the hull and seeing that he knew what to do, Sonic avoided the cannon fire and even kicked one of the candy balls directly at it's direction. While his attacked didn't seem to do much, it was a different story as the candy ball bashed the robot's head so hard that it stumbled back with a loud '_**CLANG**_' and began seeing stars.

"Yar! Take that, scallywag!" Sonic yelled with a grin, in his fake pirate accent once more, only to realize it a second too late and blushed in embarrassment, muttering to himself in his normal voice. "I really gotta stop doing that."

Using the robot's dazed distraction to his advantage, Sonic using spin dashed his way to the lever, bashing away the candy balls and zigzagging into the cannons and smashing them, as though he was in the Laser form before he reached it. Giving it a good hard kick, the blue hedgehog stumbled as the ship began to fall again.

"Whoa! Better hang on to something!" He cried out and held onto the railing of the ship which was made of wafers with strawberry cream and hoped that it wouldn't break in it's grasp or when the ship made a crash landing. The sight of it made him begin to drool in hunger, before he shook his head to snap himself out of it. This was no time for a snack.

Fortunately, the ship's railing didn't break when it hit another giant cake slice before Sonic leaped off first and turned around. As expected, Captain Jelly, having recovered, hopped off and stood there glaring at him, swishing it's lollipop sword as it hopped towards him. The blue hedgehog dodged by running backwards, laughing away to taunt it even further. He ran out of the way and began running around in circles, easily missing the sword to the point that the robot was having trouble keeping up with him with it's sight.

Frustrated the robot then jumped and made to crush the hedgehog wherever he was. But Sonic was one step ahead and he stopped running before curling up into a ball and spin dashed upward, hitting his opponent on the back, sending it flying forward and face-planting into the frosting. But as Sonic was smirking as he landed, he was shocked that the robot recovered quickly and swung it's sword to the side.

"What the!?" He exclaimed, and was unfortunately distracted long enough for another cannon fire to hit him, plowing him and sending him flying backwards, crying out in pain and alarm. "WOOOOOOAAAAAAAAH!"

To make things worse, Sonic was sent over the edge of the cake slice as he screamed, vanishing from sight. While Captain Jelly stood up and gave out an evil and victorious mechanical laugh, thinking that the blue hedgehog was finished, in reality he was falling towards the ground, and unknowingly towards a capsule that was well hidden until this point.

"_AAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!_" He screamed until he hit the top of the capsule hard before being bounced off and hit the ground, rolling and then coming to a stop. Sonic laid on his side, hissing in pain as he felt the wind knocked out of him. Behind him, the capsule tipped over and opened, revealing another Yellow Wisp who flew out and spun around in relief, before noticing the blue injured hedgehog and, seeing him hurt and realizing that he freed it, quickly flew over to see if he was okay.

Trying to ignore the throbbing pain on his stomach, Sonic breathed in and tried to push himself up as he knew that he had to get back to the ship or else Captain Jelly would escape and he would have to go through the trouble of finding the stupid giant killer robot around Sweet Mountain all over again.

"S-stupid, giant killer...robot." He grunted angrily.

"_Sonic...Don't give up._"

That voice...could it be? Sonic looked over his shoulder and in a brief moment of hallucination and the sunlight making it difficult to see, he thought he saw the welcoming presence of someone he wished to see but knew that he couldn't. The sillhouette of the small pixie hovered over him, as though glowing in light.

"C-Chip?" He asked, his heart leaping at the welcoming sight. Though as soon as he blinked and his vision began to clear, to his disappointment and surprise, it wasn't Chip at all. But instead it was the Yellow Wisp who looked at him. "Huh? Where'd you-?"

Sonic looked over to see the capsule and was surprised that he hadn't noticed. "Huh. Can't believe I missed that."

The cute alien flew around him and he couldn't help but smile a little, before the two of them glanced up to hear and see the robot pirate about to approach, with Sonic realizing that it thought he was dead and was about to peer over the edge to make sure. The hallucination words of encouragement from Chip which quickly had the blue hedgehog quickly regain his confidence as he was never one to give up anyway, and sharing a glance at the Wisp who pointed at itself, then him and then at the robot gave Sonic an idea.

"Wanna give that guy a good beating for putting you through this?" Sonic asked, and the alien nodded eagerly, making cute movements as though it was reflexing it's muscles. He chuckled with a smirk. "Alrighty, here we go!"

The Yellow Wisp saluted at him and spun around him before absorbing itself into his body and Sonic stood up, as though the alien's power healed him.

"DRILL!" He shouted, turning into the said form and drilled into the side of the cake before making his way up underground, with the robot distracted and not seeing what was happening.

As Captain Jelly peered over the edge to see whether Sonic survived or not, it didn't see him and if it's mouth could move, it would've grinned evilly, thinking that he'd fallen even further into the clouds below and to his death. That was it's biggest mistake, because right on the spot where it was standing, it heard the noise too late as Sonic tunneled his way through the thick layers of cake and broke the surface, drilling right into the robot who looked down in surprise only to be sent upward and with a gaping hole now inside it.

Sonic in the meantime returned to normal while in mid-air, and then used his spin dash to finish it off, hitting the robot pirate several times as it was helpless against his speed before he finally gave it a final kick on the head, sending it downward where it collapsed onto the thick layers and promptly exploded, which also took out the minions in the process. The blue hedgehog landed safely, while the alien came out of him as they surveyed the damage.

"Yes! We rock, baby!" Sonic celebrated, punching the air with his fist and then shared a high-five with the alien who mimicked him before hand, and it flew around him happily. He couldn't help but laugh. "Hey, thanks, little buddy! That was sweet! Uh, no pun intended."

The alien giggled, before it waved a goodbye to Sonic who waved back and then it flew away towards it's friend and rejoin the rest of it's kind. The blue hedgehog smiled, then thought about the hallucination that actually gave him encouragement this time. It was strange; first the hallucinations of the Werehog were trying to make him so afraid and get him killed, now the hallucinations of Chip were actually helping him to keep going.

"It's weird that I'm hearing and seeing Chip as well as the monster that used to be inside Sun. It's almost as though...Light and Dark Gaia are still in war with each other...but inside me." Sonic muttered to himself, placing a hand to his chest, feeling his heart beat at his finger tips.

After a few moments of pause, he blinked before shaking his head as he chastised himself with a smile. "Nah, that's crazy. It's just me going a little nuts. But I can handle it."

Or at least he thought he could handle it.

* * *

While he still had no idea what was going on with his head, Sonic decided to forget about it and made his way back to the generator, just in time to see the purple electricity turn off and he realized that the giant killer robot was connected to it. Now that it was destroyed, the generator had shut down.

As Sonic was musing himself about this, he heard footsteps and turned just in time to see Tails and Yacker approach him with relieved and excited expressions.

"Hey, Tails!" The blue hedgehog greeted with a wave, and an excited grin. "You missed the BBBE!"

"Huh?" Tails muttered, his expression turning into confusion. Yacker's expression matched it as he wondered what the blue hedgehog was talking about.

Sonic chuckled, and made poses as he explained to match the description. "Best, Boss, Beating, EVER!"

An awkward pause.

Seeing Tails scratch his head in confusion and Yacker looking at the two-tailed fox for an explanation, Sonic grinned sheepishly when he realized they still didn't get it. So he decided to change the subject.

"So...has Yacker given you any more information or limicks or whatever it is he's sprouting?" He asked, after clearing his throat.

Glad to be able to understand that and answer, Tails held out his translator as he reminded his best friend/older brother. "Well, remember, this translation stuff isn't 100%."

"Trust me, I remember." Sonic nodded, knowing all too well and braced himself for another weird and awkward mis-translating.

"So anyway, these aliens are made of a really powerful energy called Hyper-Go-Ons. It's inside of them..." Tails began.

"Like a battery?" Sonic asked, curiously. He did remember Eggman mention something about the name, but he didn't understand what it meant at the time. Now that he thought about it, he should've put the dots together when he saw those twentyfive capsules of captured aliens. That made him feel a bit guilty for not realizing it sooner, but he choose to force it down for the time being.

His best friend shook his head. "No. Well, sort of...It's their life force. You only got the taste of it and look what happened! 'Battery' is sort of an understatement."

While Sonic gazed at Yacker who was flying around like a rocket to prove Tails' point, there was a huge pit in his stomach that made his heart sink. Their powers that he burrowed...it was their life-force!?

'_Oh no...What if I used too much of those powers and their left weak? What were they thinking? What if Eggman has used up some of them already and...?_' The blue hedgehog thought in panic and guilt.

"Uh, buddy? When you said I got the taste of it, isn't them letting me burrow their powers a bad thing?" Sonic asked, worriedly. "If it's their life force, wouldn't that make things worse them?"

"Don't worry, you're not even using half of their powers. For some reason, the Wisps are letting you burrow them because they trust you, and even a little bit of it inside you is still powerful enough and doesn't even make them tired." Tails reassured, and Yacker nodded while waving his hand to confirm the fox's words.

"Oh...Phew." Sonic sighed in relief, calming down as he placed a hand to his chest. "Don't scare me like that. For a second there, I thought I was doing something wrong without even realizing it and I was accidentally hurting the aliens."

He then muttered while scratching the back of his head, still a little uneasy with this new info. "Though I think I'll be a lot more careful, just in case. Wouldn't forgive myself if I used too much of their power to the point of...well, you know."

"Yeah, I was pretty scared when I found out too, but Yacker says that it's okay." Tails nodded in agreement, before adding sheepishly. "Funny thing, it was first translating as 'bad body odor'."

Sonic blinked, dumbfounded before sniffing himself twice to see if he smelled, just in case. Thankfully he didn't, but it didn't hurt.

"Anyway," Tails continued. "It seems the evil man, and you might know him, who they call 'Baldy Nosehair' was-"

That made Sonic burst into hysterical laughter.

"HAHAHA! Baldy Nosehair!? That's the best thing I've heard all day!" The blue hedgehog laughed loudly, placing a hand on his forehead as the aliens had given Eggman a new nick-name that sounded completely awesome and true. "I've gotta remember that one!"

"I know." Tails chuckled. "I've already written it down."

The two laughed for a bit as Yacker giggled as well, relieved that they saw the funny side of Eggman's newest nick-name before they calmed down and the eight year old kit contined. "Anyway, he's draining them of their power; ALL their power, and is using it for and evil..."

He paused, gazing at his translator and tried to understand what it says. "Aquatic Mammal?"

Yacker shook his head, and Tails tried again.

"An evil dolphin? No, a poipose!..." The young fox tried, before finally understanding and softly exclaimed. "Oh, an evil purpose!"

'_I knew that right from the start._' Sonic thought to himself, and was now even more determined to stop Eggman, especially when they were on step closer in solving the mystery. Plus the way how the mad doctor was draining the alien's powers, their life force, made the blue hedgehog horrified and furious. How dare he do this!? Still, the young hero forced it down and stayed calm, and once again held confidence.

"That's good intel. Keep working on it." Sonic praised, before taking off.

"Hey, where ya' going?" Tails asked, making his friend pause and turn back.

"To find Baldy McNosehair, of course." The blue hedgehog replied, and laughed once more at the other new nick-name. "I'm totally calling him McNosehair."

Sonic was about take off again when he suddenly remembered something very important, and turned back again and approached his two friends who looked at him in confusion. "Oh yeah, almost forgot!"

He reached into his quills and much to his relief, the chunk of chocolate he pulled from the chocolate wall earlier was still intact and not melted. He then broke it into three pieces and handed one each to Tails and Yacker. "Here ya go."

"Chocolate?" Tails asked, surprised and excited while Yacker gazed at it, surprised and puzzled. "Sonic, what's this for?"

"Let's just say, it's to celebrate our brotherhood and new friendship with Yacker and the aliens." Sonic replied with a wink, his own piece in hand.

"Aw, thanks big bro!" His best friend replied, and while Yacker didn't understand this celebration, he squealed happily at the blue hedgehog's generosity. The three of them shared laughter before taking bites out of their chocolate pieces and enjoyed them.

Once that was done, Sonic then took off to continue his agenda, with Tails and Yacker following behind as they prepared to leave Sweet Mountain behind and once again board the Egg Shuttle, where it would take them to the next world.

* * *

**A/N: Whoa, this chapter took me a bit of a while, especially the boss battle against Captain Jelly. Now that Sweet Mountain is done, we enter the next world in the next chapter, which will take me a bit longer as I'm looking forward in writing the Wisps' Home-world.**

**See you later!**


	5. Chapter 5: Starlight, Star-Road Bright

**Author's Note: Next stop; Starlight Carnival! Here we go!**

**I do not own Sonic The Hedgehog. All rights belong to Sega.**

* * *

_Chapter 5: Starlight, Star-Road Bright._

"_**Next stop: The Starlight Carnival.**_" Eggman's intercom blared, as Sonic, Tails and Yacker boarded the Egg Shuttle and waited to arrive at the said attraction. "_**The sheer scale of our illuminated space fleet is sure to make you feel small and insignificant by comparison.**_"

While Tails was busy with his translator with a screwdriver once more, and Yacker was peering over his work curiously, Sonic was left to his own devices as he relaxed in his seat, his arms laid on the head rests and was staring at the ceiling. Or at least he would relax if Eggman's dumb announcements weren't so exasperating and unwelcoming.

As much as he hated to admit it, but Sonic was really enjoying himself with this place. Almost getting killed by the giant killer robots and almost turned into a Hedgehog-Berry Pie aside, and the lack of full answers of Eggman's latest plot aside, the blue hedgehog loved it. Still, he could tell that Tails still didn't think the evil doctor was up to his old tricks again and that was admittedly discouraging.

_'Maybe it is me being paranoid. Maybe there's something different about all of this, and Eggman really is showing remorse now._' Sonic thought to himself, deep in thought.

Almost instantly as he thought of that, however, what Tails had learned from Yacker came back to him.

_"...He's draining them of their power; ALL their power, and is using it for an evil...An evil dolphin? No, a poipose!...Oh, an evil purpose!"_

The blue hedgehog shook his head firmly. '_No. That's not showing remorse at all. It _is_ for an evil purpose. Whatever it is, I'm gonna stop it! Especially since that Egghead's draining them of their power so much that...that he's...he's slowly killing them._'

That thought alone shook him to the core. Such peaceful, gentle, strong and friendly and fun creatures, Sonic still found it hard to believe that Eggman would go as far as draining them of their life force and if he did drain them to the point of them being powerless...Sonic was scared to think that they would all die if he didn't do something to stop it.

Even worse, the mad doctor would be more successful in that than he ever tried using the power of Dark Gaia, which ultimately back-fired on him as usual when the enormous monster didn't obey him and instead sent him flying. Which Sonic knew would happen, and that thought had already been confirmed by Knuckles who had the same thought and said as much.

"It's not fair." Sonic grumbled as he gazed out at the window as he could see all bright lights and colours, and even from afar he could tell that the place is huge. "This place is way past cool. Why did it have to be Eggman of all people to build it?"

"Maybe it's because he's really changing his ways?" Tails suggested.

"No way." The blue hedgehog grunted with a deep frown, folding his arms. "I told you, the last time he said he'd turn over a new leaf and I almost fully believed him, it was all trap and he caught me. Do I have to remind you of the times he tricked Knuckles? Not to mention that I almost got baked to death when I fell into that blueberry pie."

He then shuddered while saying half-sarcastically, which suddenly made him feel sick to the stomach even just the thought of it. "I wouldn't put it past him if that _"Bake Me Crazy"_ ride, assuming if where I ended up was the ride itself, would not only have the tourists end up trapped and then cooked inside those pies or cakes alive, but that he'd also have a shrinking machine somewhere I haven't spotted yet and serve those with all the dead people in them for him to eat later on."

Sonic gulped nervously, adding. "If anything, he'd probably be thrilled to eat ME if I hadn't gotten out on time for a sweet revenge."

"Sonic, please don't say that." Tails moaned after paling at that thought, placing his Miles Electronic on his lap and a hand onto his stomach. "Not only you're making me feel sick, but that's gonna give me nightmares."

Yacker didn't look that thrilled with the thought either and he somehow understood what Sonic was saying, because he looked to be turning grass-green and floated onto the seat next to Tails, moaning in Wisp language.

"Sorry, can't help it. I'm still freaked out about that to be honest, to the point that I'll be having nightmares tonight, that's for sure." The blue hedgehog shrugged apologetically. He then placed a hand to his stomach and groaned. "Ugh, even just thinking about it is making _me_ feel nauseous."

"Okay, say that you got a point. What can't you see the bright side of the Amusement Park?" The young fox asked, trying to get the subject back on track and avoid anymore thoughts of what would've happened and the horrible idea of the crazy ride that would cook people.

"I can't enjoy it to it's fullest extent because it's Eggman we're talking about, and I don't want let my guard down." The fifteen year old hedgehog answered, punching his fist into his palm in frustration. "You said yourself that the Hyper-Go-Ons are the aliens' life force, and if I don't do something to save them, they'll die! I'll never forgive myself if that happens!"

Sighing to try and calm down, Sonic sat up straight and gazed at the floor, adding. "You have any idea how scared they were when I saw them in those capsules, Tails? It's everything I felt when they absorbed into me. And now..."

He paused, gazing at his hands while continuing. "Just the very thought of them letting me use their powers is horrible. What if I use too much by accident? I...I can't bear the thought that they're dying because of not just Eggman, but me for making a mistake. It's...it's bad enough about what happened two months ago because of me. These aliens are gentle creatures...and if I hurt them...it's all my fault...!"

"Sonic..." Tails trailed off, not sure what to say as Yacker looked up to see that the blue hedgehog looked guilt-ridden all of the sudden. What scared the two-tailed fox the most is that he'd never seen Sonic like this before; the brief lack of confidence, the hint of fear in his voice, the horror of his actions.

"I should've done something sooner. I should've stopped him when I had the chance, but I had no idea where he was when Dark Gaia sent him flying." Sonic whispered, mostly to himself as he squeezed his eyes shut. "Why? Why does it have to be this way?"

Without even realizing it, Sonic's eyes began to leak of tears, small but still visible enough for Tails and Yacker to see. Despite that the usually cheery and optimistic hedgehog was trying to stop himself, he was shaking and on the urge to break down, silently but visibly.

'_Maybe what happened two months ago hurt him more than I thought._' Tails thought to himself, extremely worried now. He'd known for months that Sonic had been scared; before the trip to the sixth Temple of Gaia, his adoptive big brother had openly admitted to him in private on how scared he was. Scared of Sun's Werehog form and the beast within him, but even then, that was in comparison to top three things that terrified him the most, the third being well hidden until that point.

First fear: Drowning due to not being able to swim and the water slowing him down.

Second fear: Losing everyone he cares about and loves so deeply.

Third fear: Losing to Eggman who would ultimately win and take over the entire planet.

But even then, Tails now knew that there was a fourth worst fear that Sonic hadn't mentioned but wasn't hard to pick out: Hurting others he cared about or hurting anyone innocent. He may be a hero, but he wasn't completely violent or heartless. That wasn't in Sonic's nature. Unless he didn't have a choice or when he's truly enraged whenever anyone he deeply cared about are hurt by his enemies, he had no intentions of ending anyone's life.

That was a huge different between destroying robots and killing someone. Sonic's heart had always been pure gold. And that said heart had been wounded by the emotional scars Dark Gaia, that Eggman's previous attempts, had left him. His soul had been wounded. That wasn't something that could heal completely in a short time, no matter how hard Sonic tried.

"You didn't know, and it's not your fault." Tails whispered, cautiously approaching his best friend. He considered on placing a comforting hand on the slightly distraughted hedgehog's shoulder, but resisted, a bit scared that Sonic would inadvertently hurt him. "We'll figure it out."

Sonic dared to glance up at his adoptive little brother, and saw his concerned expression. Not only that, he saw guilt in his sweet, blue eyes and it broke the blue hedgehog's heart.

"I'm sorry, Tails." Sonic muttered, sighing and running a hand through his quills. "I hate letting everybody down, and I'm too scared to think that I'm repeating history over the stupid mistake for what happened to Mobius, only this time it's happened to Yacker and the aliens, even if I didn't do anything wrong. I'm not even supposed to be this scared. I can't be like this."

"Come on, Sonic. It's okay to worry and be scared over something that isn't your phobia. Besides, the whole thing with the Wisps is different to...back then." Tails pointed out, and sighed. "And now that I think about it...I guess you're right and maybe I'm the gullible one. I just don't see why Eggman would lie about this."

"Here's a little reminder, buddy." Sonic smiled a little sadly, as he playfully gave his best friend a lecture. "Never trust Eggman when 99 out of 100 times he says are lies."

He then snickered and glanced at the window again as the bright lights were getting closer. "It's too bad this place is evil, no matter how much I love it, and I really do love the heck of it. Pity, because I would've invited everybody else."

"Even Shadow, Sun and Knuckles?" Tails asked, curiously with a small smile.

"Maybe, if Shadow wasn't such a lone wolf and a grump. Knuckles would've come if there were any Master Emerald-Babysitting service. Not sure about Sun, since he's still new. Probably wouldn't be an Amusement Park kind of guy. They're awesome friends, they're just...a bunch of party poopers." The blue hedgehog replied with a smirk.

"...Good point." The two-tailed fox shrugged.

"I know you're not gullible." Sonic continued, playfully ruffling the fur on his friend's head, making the younger Mobian giggle. "It's just...I guess things have been so crazy lately."

"Can't be any crazier-and scarier-than you almost being baked into a Blue-Hedgehog-Berry Pie." Tails couldn't help but half-tease.

Mocking a pout with puffed cheeks, Sonic grinned with a glint. "Oh, you-! C'mere!"

He pulled his best friend into a headlock, playfully nogging him as Tails laughed while trying to pull free, and Sonic snickered in laughter, ignoring his little brother's cries to be let go. Yacker watched on with a confused eyebrow at the, in his opinion, weird performance the two are displaying and wondered if this was some sort of Mobian game.

Eventually they stopped just as the Egg Shuttle made it's landing. The duo and Yacker were about to disembark when something came up in Sonic's mind as they reached the automatic doors.

"Weird. I'm not normally the uncertain one, and no offense li'l bro, but it's usually me who comforts you. Talk about a reverse in our roles." Sonic muttered, scratching the back of his head.

"Well, maybe you should let us comfort you once and while. I mean, you did so much for us for a long time, don't you think everybody else wouldn't want to do the same thing for you?" Tails pointed out.

"Having you guys around even in spirit is more than enough. But still..." The blue hedgehog looked embarrassed to openly admit it as he usually tended to hide what he really felt. "Thanks for cheering me up."

The cute eight year old fox smiled, relieved that his adoptive hedgehog brother was feeling better. Not completely, but enough to perk up to mostly return to his usual self. "You're my big brother, Sonic. Of course I'd cheer you up."

Sonic smiled fondly. He wouldn't trade his sweet, intelligent and brave little brother for the world.

* * *

After feeling much better and informing Tails and Yacker that he was okay, just a bit down for a while, Sonic set off to explore the Starlight Carnival while they went off to explore another part of the park. The blue hedgehog had thought about what his best friend had said, but deep down he knew that Eggman was really up to his usual schemes...with a mixture of turning both more light-hearted and extremely more dark-hearted at the same time.

"...Okay, that seriously makes no sense." Sonic muttered to himself as he ran, and having thought about it. "It's like they say; looks can be deceiving and boy this place does deceive almost everyone. If I hadn't found discovered and saved those aliens, it might taken me a lot longer to figure out what's going on."

He then thought back to the half-joke he mentioned about of the pie incident and shuddered at the thought. "Hope Eggman hasn't gone _that_ far, or else he'd turn himself into a cannibal, especially to other humans. Ugh."

Trying to shake that thought away, Sonic focused on his task as well as admiring his new surroundings, with heaps of colours and neon lights everywhere he went. Good thing it worked, because the views were incredible. The sky was dark with bright stars shining, followed by vast rainbows of fireworks, even the buildings had colourful lights along with the attractions of floating ships, some shaped like sea life. At least that's what they looked like to him.

He let out an impressed whistle, smiling. "For once, that Egghead came up with a taste that I actually like. Other than Tropical Resort."

Sonic would've been fully distracted if he hadn't looked up ahead and gasped in horror when saw that the road was about to end with vast empty blackness where floats, well, floated around and above. Panicking, he quickly skid to a stop while hoping to not fall off as he felt a flash of deja vu kick in, only without aliens around at the moment.

"AH, AH, AH, AH, AHHHH!" He cried out in alarm when he saw that he wasn't going to make it. Just as Sonic thought he was about to plummet to his death for the umpteenth time today, to his surprise he skid to a stop and wasn't falling at all, but still standing. He stumbled forward a bit as he nearly lost his balance while standing on one foot just as suddenly a purple path lit up underneath him.

"Whoa, whoa! Whoa!" Sonic stood on both feet as he saw, to his confusion and then quick amazement, the path he stood on was made of neon purple light and seemed to be going forward to where he needed to go. He felt his heart jump at the unexpected scare, and while he felt relief, his smile widened in awe and excitement.

"WHOA! This, is, way, beyond, past, COOL!" The blue hedgehog exclaimed loudly in sheer enthusiasm. Wasting no time, he ran at high speed and allowed the neon path to continue to light his way, passing the fireworks that flashed and shined down upon him, Neon rides and attractions in every direction, black spheres shooting out colourful lasers.

"WOOOOOOO!" He cheered, even as his path looped slightly and even upward and upside down into different forms of loops. "THIS IS TOTALLY EPIC!"

While Sonic was really having the time of his life for the third time today, passing by some sort of parade, to his annoyance a couple of robots that were oddly dressed like a marching band and instruments used as weapons were attempting to block his path. Rolling his eyes with a soft groan, the blue hedgehog wasted no time in going faster into his spin attack, smashing one of the robots and causing it's instrument to fall off the edge, and then punched and kicked the other into pieces.

To his surprise, not only did one of them also have a Wisp inside, but it was coloured red, a bit like the orange wisp only a bit shorter, with wavy legs with circles at the end. The red alien flew around lively as it circled around the blue hedgehog who smiled, amazed to yet another interesting Wisp. But as he was curious about what kind of ability this one had, he immediately remembered that said power was also it's life force, and that thought alone extinguished his curiosity epically.

'_I can't burrow their powers anymore, and I really don't want to hurt their feelings. But I won't live with myself if-_' Sonic thought was cut off when the alien went up right to his face, surprising him as he leaned back in surprise which caused him to stop. Fortunately the neon path stayed the way it was and didn't disappear underneath him...or it was slowly getting there.

"Uh, hi?" He muttered, before glancing over his shoulder and softly gasped when he saw that the road was about to end and he could end up falling. He turned back to the alien and quickly said apologetically, "Hey, sorry little fella, but I gotta run before-"

Apparently the red alien saw this dilemma, and to Sonic's dismay as he had promised himself not to absorb them, it turned into energy and was about to enter his body.

"No wait, please! Don't-"

But it was too late. The Wisp absorbed itself into his chest and Sonic cried out, hugging himself as he tried not to focus on this new kind of power and mentally pleaded the alien to save itself and it's energy. But the energy flowed quickly throughout his entire body, and he felt like he was about to go up in flames, needing the urge to explode and let it all out.

"Too hot...too much...! I gotta...BURST!" Sonic screamed, and the moment he shouted that word, he was covered in flames and transformed into a fireball. He flew and bounced from float to float as the neon path vanished in the matter of moments, and while he was quickly beginning to have fun, he was also scared for the Wisp's well-being. The blue hedgehog bashed through blocks and robots on the floats and finding himself unable to figure out how to attack the enemies.

While Sonic tried desperately to make the power stop, the red Wisp showed him how to use it and he felt the power within him charge, before he ended up unleashing the burst, flames exploding and the robots and block cubes exploding into almost virtually nothing. Thankfully the power finally wore off, and Sonic found himself on one of the floats and broke into it, landing on the floor inside.

The alien emerged and while it looked pretty proud of itself, Sonic, while really impressed by the display, was horrified. He had just used the power of Wisp, the life force! Just when he promised he be careful and yet the adorable, sweet and friendly but very tough alien willing let him use it in it's gratitude, whether it knew that some of it's strength may have already been used up by Eggman's capsules or not, slowly weakening it.

Still, he couldn't disappoint it or make it upset or give it the wrong idea, so instead he, against his better judgement, smiled at his new friend, ultimately impressed.

"Whoa. That was quite a punch, little guy!" Sonic praised, and the red Wisp nodded, bouncing around the walls energetically. "You guys are full of spirit, huh?"

The alien nodded and circled around Sonic who couldn't help but chuckle, and then zoomed is way out of the whole the two created and towards freedom, while also making more destruction with fire in the process...far away from the float he was in, thankfully.

Left alone, the blue hedgehog's smile faded as he gazed at the floor in growing guilt. He couldn't believe that these aliens would still allow him to use their power, knowing that their Hyper-Go-Ons was their life-force and Eggman had already drained them for some of it. Sonic gazed at his hands, the surge of guilt rising heavily in his chest.

'_I really have to be more careful with these little guys. I'm reckless, but I don't wanna put anyone else's lives in danger because of it. Did that too many times already._' He thought to himself, even as he thought back on what Tails had told him about what Yacker said.

_"Don't worry, you're not even using half of their powers. For some reason, the Wisps are letting you burrow them because they trust you, and even a little bit of it inside you is still powerful enough and doesn't even make them tired."_

Come to think of it, Tails did have a bit of a point. Sonic had noticed that even after using a bit of it's power, the Wisp wasn't tired at all. In fact, it was just as energetic as he had felt. While he was still afraid of using too much of that kind of energy, maybe he was overreacting.

"Guess these little guys and their magic are stronger than I thought." Sonic muttered, sighing as he shook his head. "Still, I don't wanna end up like Eggman. That's one of my worst nightmares."

Deciding to worry about that later as he had a lot more work to do, and tons more of Starlight Carnival to explore and having fun in, the hero of Mobius did a quick glance around the area. It was lit up in a disco multicolour with tons of neon look, but it had a different aura around it. Still really cool, though. Shrugging, Sonic then continued onward and leaped off the float, landing on a new path and ran along the loops and spirals, enjoying himself as he did.

* * *

As Sonic continued his trek and saved more familiar Aliens while having to not used as much of their power when they absorbed themselves inside him, everywhere he went was light up in neon colours, he found himself on another float and then leaped off the float before landing on another purple platform. He figured that this place was a switch between floats and the neon roads and platforms everywhere he went.

"_**If you experience explosive decompression, please try to avoid staining the seat cushions. Those things are quite expensive!**_" The intercom recording of Eggman's voice blared once more.

"And like your _"Bake Me Crazy"_ factory of doom wasn't? Where'd you get all that money anyway? From robbing the bank?" Sonic remarked sarcastically, rolling his eyes.

Leaping onto another float, the cobalt hedgehog came across another capsule of another red Wisp as well as three more robots that looked ridiculous. He intended on finishing them off first before releasing the alien, but the terrified look it held as he gazed at it made him change his mind, even though he didn't want to risk in using it's Hyper-Go-On again. Though he was forced to have a third thought as the robots, with trumpets, drums, and cymbals, began playing music.

Loud, awful, horrid noise that couldn't be called music. More like a painful combination of a mixed up low groan and high-pitched squeal with random banging and clanging breaking the sound barrier.

"OW!" Sonic shouted, covering his ears which began to hurt and cringed. He glared up at the robotic trio and yelled. "Hey, keep it down, will ya!? You're hurtin' everybody's eardrums!"

The trapped alien was in the same boat because it was covering it's non-existant ears and from inside the capsule was squealing away in pain and agony, begging for the awful sound to stop. Unable to handle the noise any longer, Sonic immediately tried to ignore his ears hurting and spin dashed into the most pathetic band in all existance, smashing them into pieces after several hits. For a precaution, he tossed the instruments overboard and watched them fall into the dark space where they disappeared.

"And I thought Vector had bad taste in music. Ugh, my ears are still ringing." The blue hedgehog groaned, rubbing his right ear before quickly heading over to the capsule and busted it open. Due to the horrible sound, the red alien slowly floated out, moaning in it's own language.

"$#$&%$ ..." The little Wisp moaned, before falling as though passing out. Sonic softly gasped and quickly caught it in his arms, gently cradling it and gazed at it's weak form worriedly, fearing that the worst has happened.

"Are you okay?" He asked frantically, his heart stopping for a second or two. Ultimately while he was scared that the poor thing was very weak, he was glad not to have used it's power to destroy those robots. To his relief, the alien's eyes spun in a daze that looked comical and cute, stars circling it's head but still in good health. Relatively speaking.

Sighing in relief, Sonic softly smiled as the alien began to recover. "Don't worry, little guy. Those three buckets of bolts are history. Sorry that I took too long."

The Wisp, coming out of it, gazed at him curiously before recovering almost instantly, and Sonic carefully let go, both to show that he meant no harm and a bit worried that it might fall. Fortunately, it flew up happily and circuled around him as most of the other aliens he saved did. He couldn't help but chuckle softly.

"I'm Sonic the Hedgehog." He introduced himself, jerking a thumb at his chest. "See, I've been going around the park saving your friends and figuring out how to stop the evil man you call Baldy Nosehair, who I call Eggman, or rather now McNosehair, from hurting you and your kind."

When the alien heard the nick-name, it giggled hysterically which made Sonic burst into laughter as well at that memory as he told it. "Yeah, I still find Baldy Nosehair name funny too! Anyway, it'll be okay. You're free now. I'll save the rest of your friends and stop that guy. I promise."

Sonic was about to kindly gesture it to go as he knew that the Wisp would want to show it's gratitude by lending him it's power even just for a little bit and he wanted to make sure that he didn't do that without hurting it's feelings, when he heard the approaching sound of more robots even before his new friend's eyes widened and pointed frantically behind him, crying out in it's language that, while he didn't understand, instantly knew that it was trying to tell him to watch out.

The blue hedgehog spun around quickly to see four more annoying robots with more instruments: this time one had an Accordion, another had a bag-pipe of all things, the third had an electric guitar, and the last one had...a small gong? He gave them a dull look.

"I can just see this sounding way worse than the last stupid band." Sonic deadpanned, while the Wisp held a look of exasperation and slumped in dismay.

As predicted, the robots attempted to distract them by playing what Eggman would call music, with the Bag-Pipe going off first, followed by the guitar, then the Accordion and the gong sounding like nothing more than a stick hitting a frying pan. The noise was so terrible that at the first instrument going off, Sonic and the red Wisps cried out in agony before covering their ears again, trying to block it out.

"AAAH! It IS way worse! Worse than I thought!" The blue hedgehog screamed out, silently begging for the noise to stop.

Suddenly, a loud roar of a battle cry filled the air, though both Sonic and the Wisp couldn't hear properly as they were busy trying to block out the terrible sound, and the next thing that happened when they both looked up to figure out how to get away from it, their eyes widened in surprise as one of the robots was smashed into pieces from behind, causing the other three robots to stop before they too were taken down...by a very familiar spiked fist belonging to none other than Knuckles the Echidna.

"SHUT UP, YOU STUPID PIECES OF JUNK!" Knuckle roared, apparently having taken the noise far worse than the two in front of him. "I've had with that awful sound you call music!"

"Knuckles?" Sonic blinked in surprise, uncovering his ears as he stared in surprise at the red echidna. Since when did the Guardian get here? The wisp looked back and forth between the blue hedgehog and the newcomer he knows in confusion, while thankful that the latter had put an end to the noise.

"Huh?" Knuckles muttered, also blinking as he heard his friend's voice and turned to see him, just as surprised. "Sonic?"

Quickly recovering from his surprise, Sonic smirked as he approached his old friend. "Didn't expect to see you today, and here of all places, buddy-boy."

"Likewise. Let me guess; You're here to stop Eggman, right?" The guardian of the Master Emerald replied.

"Right on the spot." The blue hedgehog chuckled. "So, what brings you here?"

Failing to stop himself from flinching, Knuckles stuttered as he looked away awkwardly. "Uh...N-no reason! Just...out on a stroll!"

"Yeah, right." Sonic stated, placing a hand to his hip. "So, Eggman didn't trick you into his traps again, then. Or you wouldn't have taken out the worst band of robots and noise makers in the universe."

"Shut up!" The red echidna growled, with a hint of a blush forming on his nuzzle. "And since when did you get here?"

The hero of Mobius shrugged, "Been here almost all day. I knew that Egghead was up to his old tricks again, so me and Tails came up here to investigate...and having fun at the same time. This place rocks! Then again, the huge downside is that he's using these cute aliens for his evil purposes."

"Did I just hear you call aliens "cute"?" Knuckles asked, dumbfounded, only to flinch back in fright when the red Wisp flew up to his face with an annoyed glare for being rude. "AH!"

"Hey, go easy on them, Knucklehead! These little guys are friendly." Sonic scolded, though he didn't blame his friend for being suspicious. "They're the victims of Eggman's scheme and I've been going all around the place saving them."

"What are you, crazy!? Since when were aliens-"

Knuckles didn't get the chance to finish his sentence as the Wisps gave out a cry of alarm as it pointed at five approaching threatening robots coming up behind him. Thankfully Sonic noticed and was thankful that these were merely Egg-bots. But they were coming at high-speed.

"Look out!" He cried out, shoving his friend/rival out of the way. Sonic was about to spin dash into them when the alien gestured at him and itself before pointing at the robots and while he wasn't comfortable with the idea of using it's power, especially how it suffered even though it seemed to be energetic, with time running short he knew he didn't have a choice.

"You wanna take these guys out too?" He asked, and the alien nodded eagerly. "Well, okay. Try not to wear yourself out. I don't wanna hurt you."

The Wisp nodded and absorbed itself into Sonic just as Knuckles recovered. Before the red echidna could warn his friend as he didn't know what was going on, the blue hedgehog smirked at the robots and used the alien's power for good use.

"BURST!"

Once again turning into a ball of fire, Sonic took out the robots where they exploded into nothing in a matter of seconds before returning to normal and landed safely on the floor. The alien came out of him and the two shared a high-five despite that he felt guilty for using the power of the Wisps again.

"What? What the?" Knuckles stared blankly, bewildered at what he just witnessed. Not only did he just see Sonic absorb the alien, but he also had a new kind of power that took out the robots and then it re-emerged out of him as though nothing happened despite the evidence on the floor.

"Still don't think they're cute _and_ awesome?" Sonic smirked with a glint in his eyes, and the Wisp looked pretty proud of itself with a smug look at the stunned echidna's direction. "And I think you owe him an apology."

Despite the amazing power and the teamwork and trust Sonic displayed with the Wisp, Knuckles remained skeptical and folded his arms. "No way! I don't trust these aliens more than I don't trust these robots!"

"So, Eggman _did_ trick you if he's told you that the aliens aren't friends." The blue hedgehog rolled his eyes.

"GRRR! He didn't trick me, okay!?" Knuckles exclaimed in irritation.

"But he did trick you if you think that." Sonic pointed out.

"HE DIDN'T!" The guardian shouted, which scared the Wisp who panicked and hidden itself behind Sonic, afraid of the echidna.

"Alright, alright, yeesh." The younger teen held his hands up in defense. "Don't get mad, and you're scarin' the little guy. He and the other aliens are already freaked out as it is!"

The sixteen year old echidna grumbled, folding his arms. "Why do you trust them as much?"

"One, because when Tails and I first got here, Decoe, Becoe, Bokkun, Orbot and their new Cowboy-voiced bot were chasing three of them earlier and most were already captured before we even arrived, and I saved them. Two, when the aliens went inside me and letting me burrow their powers that not only show their gratitude, other than being happy, but I could feel their happiness, as well as their fears and worries." Sonic counted the first two facts.

He paused before continuing, "If I were ever trapped with no way out, I'd be frightened too. Like, a heck of a lot. Three, ones that I did save actually saved my life and I really owe them. First was when I nearly fell off the ledge at Tropical Resort before two of them pull me back up to safety, then was another one helping me escape when I fought Eggman's giant killer robot, and just at Sweet Mountain before I fought another giant killer robot earlier, a rocket wisp that was frightened of me came back and let me use it's power to escape a giant blueberry pie I got stuck in that was just seconds from being cooked."

When Knuckles still looked skeptical, Sonic smiled softly. "They're gentle and friendly, Knux. Not all aliens are bad like Black Doom and his Black Arms army. It's like there are good people and bad people back at home. Come on, Eggman's the good example of being bad."

The red Wisp, understanding what Sonic was saying, peered behind him and looked nervously at Knuckles before nodding, still frightened. Even though the red echidna was hesitant, he could tell that his blue friend was telling the truth and that the Wisp did look admittedly cute and seeing how scared it was, felt a twinge of guilt rise up in his chest.

Sighing, he decided that his friend was right. There had to be good aliens in the universe too, and given what Sonic had told him(though he had no idea about the giant blueberry pie part or how the blue hedgehog ended up stuck to the point of nearly being cooked), the Wisps were the good ones.

"Fine." Knuckles grumbled, gazing at the red Wisp and said apologetically. "I'm sorry, little guy. I didn't mean to frighten you. If Sonic trusts you and your kind...then I will too."

"He's okay, little buddy. He's a nice guy. Just...a real knucklehead sometimes." Sonic reassured the alien when it still looked a bit nervous.

"Hey!" His friend pouted.

"But it's okay. Give him time." The blue hedgehog continued, ignoring the other Mobian. The rest alien glanced between the hero and the guardian, before slowly floating away from Sonic who nodded reassuringly, and then it hovered towards Knuckles. It then circled around him and then began gently touching him on the chest...which inadvertently tickled him.

"W-Hey! St-stop that! HAHAHAHAHA!" Knuckles chuckled, trying to get away from the unexpected tickle which made the alien relax a bit more and beamed happily, twirling around and somersaulting in mid-air.

"Ha ha! I think he really likes you now, Knux." Sonic laughed, and laughed harder when their new friend hugged him on the chest, rubbing it's head against it. "Aw, see? Everything's gonna be okay."

The Wisp beamed once more, before waving a goodbye to the two Mobians and then flew off.

"See ya'!" Sonic called out to it as he and Knuckles watched it go.

"How in the name of Chaos did that happen?" The guardian demanded, flabbergasted after a moment of silence. "The whole power thing, I mean."

"It's their Hyper-Go-Ons Yacker told Tails earlier." The teenage hedgehog shrugged.

"Their what? And who the heck is Yacker?" Knuckles asked, confused.

"Yacker's one of the first three aliens I saved. I know; I still have no clue on what they're saying. Lucky for us, Tails turned his gadget into a translating thingamajig even though it doesn't get it right at first, and sometimes translates into stuff that make no sense or just plain weird. From what we've learned, Yacker and his people have these magical powers, which are the Hyper-Go-Ons." Sonic explained.

"Let me guess: Eggman's using that kind of power for whatever evil plot's he's come up with." The red echidna grumbled knowingly.

"Yep!" The blue hedgehog nodded. "We're not sure what for yet, but I'm gonna find out and put a stop to it. I also have to be more careful when I burrow their powers now even if they're more than willing to lend them to me even with me asking and they won't take no for an answer."

"Why's that?"

Sonic sighed, frowning in concern. "Because their Hyper-Go-Ons are much more than just their magic; it's their life force, and Eggman's using all of it for his schemes. Yacker doesn't seem to think it's much of a worry of letting me use their powers, even just a little bit, and they still seem to be pretty energetic."

"No way!" Knuckles exclaimed in shock, horrified about this new information. "But, if Eggman's absorbing all of their power, then-"

"Yeah...If they lose all of their power...Oh, Chaos, they'll..." The blue hedgehog paused, wanting to continue as the horrible reality was still sinking in and the ultimate guilt slowly rising even more. "Knuckles, if their powers are completely drained, they'll die!"

Sonic began breathing feverishly, trying not to break down. "If these aliens are not saved on time, they'll die! Even worse, half of their powers must've already been drained by the time I save them and they still let me to burrow them, knowing what's happening! How can I live with myself if I make the mistake of using too much of it!? I can't let that happen! I just can't!"

"That slimey rotten egg...!" Knuckles growled under his breath, clutching his fist which shook. "He's gone over the line this time...!"

"Worst part is, part of it is all my fault." The cobalt hedgehog continued, not hearing what his friend said. He then shook his head and turned around, walking away a couple of steps before stopping as Knuckles quickly looked at him, shocked by his words. "No. All of it is all my fault. If I'd known sooner, these aliens wouldn't suffer like this."

The more Sonic thought about it, the more the guilt continued to rise. How could he let all this happen? Yes, it was Eggman's fault and the mad doctor had always been so cruel, but the blue hedgehog still felt that it was his responsibility to stop him...and he failed. Partially.

_"__**YOU CANNOT ESCAPE YOUR SINS, HEDGEHOG. YOU WILL BE PUNISHED DEARLY, AND YOUR ACTIONS HAS SPREAD ACROSS THE UNIVERSE.**__**ARE YOU CERTAIN YOU ARE NOT THE CAUSE OF THESE ALIENS BEING FORCED FROM THEIR HOME?**__"_

The Werehog's words, the hallucination of the monster's words at least, echoed in his mind and that made his heart ache even more and the guilt even worse.

'_Maybe he's right. What if I screwed up so much without even knowing that it went beyond Mobius and somehow had Eggman figure out where the aliens came from? Just what was it that I do wrong? I don't understand...!_' Sonic thought miserably to himself.

"I let everybody down. First with the planet being split into pieces because of my stupidity of letting Egghead trick me, and now this! Worst part is..." Sonic trailed off, his voice cracking in sorrow and guilt, tears forming before squeezing his eyes shut. "...I have no idea how I messed up this time!"

The usually cheerful hedgehog then hugged himself, one arm repeatedly trying to dry away his tears but was failing and couldn't even stop himself from crying. "Why? Why did it have to be this way?"

"Sonic..." Knuckles whispered, shocked and sympathized to see his friend, who would normally be optimistic, break down like this despite trying not to cry but wasn't able to. He approached the distraught and guilt-ridden hedgehog who tried to keep his crying silent.

"I should've stopped him sooner. As much fun as this place is...It would be a lot better if I prevented that jerk f-from building it and ever going to kidnap the aliens who don't deserve any of this...! How could I have screwed up so bad!? Twice in a row!" Sonic softly sobbed.

"...You're still blaming yourself for the whole Dark Gaia thing, aren't you?" The Master Emerald Guardian whispered.

"D-Don't remind me..." Sonic muttered, still crying uncontrollably. "That was all my fault back then too. E-everybody could've...everybody could've died that day...!"

"But they didn't, and you, Chip and Sun saved the world by putting back together, and sending Dark Gaia back to where he came from. Remember, it was Eggman who started that mess in the first place, not you. Do you see him feeling guilty over his actions?" Knuckles pointed out.

Sniffling, the upset blue hedgehog muttered. "No, and I don't think...I don't think he ever will. Still, I'm-"

"You were trying to stop him back then, Sonic!" The red echidna interrupted, grabbing hold of his friend's shoulders and forcefully spun him away, causing Sonic to lower his arms, but kept his head down in shame, tears still visible which made the young hedgehog feeling embarrassed. "Look at me...!"

When Sonic didn't budge, Knuckles repeated lowly. "Look. At. Me!"

Biting his lip, the blue hedgehog forced himself to look at Knuckles' violet eyes with his saddened emerald ones. The sight managed to break the echidna's heart, his expression softening. "You are not the cause for what's happened two months ago, Sonic. You're not the cause of what's happening now. You just got caught in the wrong place at the wrong time back then, but you managed to still save the world like you always do. This is different; how were you or anyone else supposed to know this is happening? You have nothing to do with the aliens being kidnapped and sucked dry."

He then smirked and added, "If anything, they're extremely lucky that you and Tails came here when you did. Otherwise things would have been worse."

Eyes widening, Sonic realized that his friend was right. If he hadn't spotted the elevator earlier today and made the suggestion to come here, things would have been a lot worse; that thought made him also realize that if he'd been a day or two late, or even longer, then Eggman would've ultimately won and he wouldn't even know it until it was too late. That thought would have made his nightmares of the evil man winning come true and that shook the blue hedgehog right to the core.

Wiping away his tears as his friend let him go, Sonic smiled as he began to feel better, and while he still felt guilt, mainly for the Wisps' safety, most of it that developed since this adventure began was washed away almost immediately.

"You're right. Thanks, Knux. It's just...I haven't been myself lately, and the whole thing from two months ago is really hard to move on. I know I always say to keep moving forward and don't ever look back, but..." Sonic began as he scratched the side of his face, before lowering his hand and admitted. "Maybe it's because I miss Chip so much, I can't look forward in seeing him again, even in the afterlife. Plus even though he's gone, that Werehog still freaks me out."

"I understand." Knuckles smiled warmly. "It does take years to get over in losing someone close to you. I should know, because I'm the last of my kind and the future of all of them becoming fully extinct once I'm gone..."

"Right." The blue hedgehog nodded. "I'm still scared to think 'bout that future, too. Plus, I...I'm sorry, Knuckles. I forgot about what you went through. But hey, just 'cause you're the last echidna, doesn't mean you're alone. You got me and Tails, and Amy, and everybody else to watch your back and to hang out with. You're part of the team, man. Part of the family."

"I know."

Sonic chuckled, then scratched the back of his head. "Weird. I can't believe I've become such a pessimist and that's totally not my style."

"Blame Eggman for that." Knuckles suggested.

"Yeah, you're right. It's his fault that things have been so crazy lately, I think he's becoming more and more insane each day." He agreed, before suggesting. "If you ever go explore Sweet Mountain, stay away from the giant pies and over-sized oven. I'm still not sure if that's Egghead's _"Bake Me Crazy"_ ride or not."

The blue hedgehog then shuddered, thinking back of his half-joke once more. "And...if you see any shrinking machine around there that I missed, let me know."

His friend paled when he realized what the blue hedgehog meant by those words, his eyes widening in fear and disbelief. "...Please tell me that's a joke."

"Half of one, at least." Sonic replied, shrugging sheepishly. "The shrinking machine I mean. But yeah, the ride and the factory are definitely real. Like I said, I got stuck in a giant blueberry pie earlier and let me tell you, I thought I was gonna be a blue-hedgehog-berry pie for a moment there. So um, do me a favor and don't turn yourself into a cherry-echidna pie while you're there, 'kay?"

"That's not funny!" Knuckles yelled out, paling even further.

"Speaking of which, if Eggman didn't trick you, why are you here and not guarding that giant shiny rock of yours?" The hero asked curiously.

"First off, it's not a rock; it's the Master Emerald. And secondly...I came here on my own. I mean, how can anyone not notice a giant floating colorful building in space that's more visible like the moon at night?" The guardian replied, though the second part didn't seem that convincing.

Sonic couldn't help but smirk as he turned around. "Yeah, keep tellin' yourself that. Meanwhile, I've got more aliens to save and the rest of Starlight Carnival to explore."

"Whatever." Knuckles grumbled, folding his arms.

The blue hedgehog was about to leave when he paused, and began. "Hey, Knux..."

"Yeah?"

Looking over his shoulder, Sonic smiled sincerely at his friend. "Thanks for cheering me up. I guess there are times that even I need comfort from someone, and reassurance. It's...really comforting. I think I understand now how everybody else feels when I'm usually the one to make them feel better."

"Hmph." Knuckles smirked, glad that his friend was feeling like his normal self. "I'm your friend, Sonic. I'd...never forgive myself if anything happened to you."

That made Sonic remember what Tails said earlier, and it warmed his heart even further. His best/friend and little brother had said almost the same thing, and that he had cheered him up as well. The hero of Mobius couldn't ask for better friends/family.

"I know." The teenage hedgehog replied, and grinned mischievously. "Well, have fun, I gotta run."

Waving his friend off, Sonic sped away to continue his quest, leaving Knuckles to watch him go, before nodding and went into the opposite direction. Both of them completely unaware that their entire conversation had been witnessed by a familiar bat from another float above, as the spy gazed down at them with a smirk.

Well, things have gotten pretty interesting.

* * *

**A/N: I know that I left out Cream and Cheese at Tropical Resort, and Silver and Blaze at Sweet Mountain as they were in the DS version of the game like Knuckles and the bat(I bet you can correctly guess who that is), but I thought I'd try something different and continue to do so with this story.**

**Plus I still have to get to the kinds of Wisps, which will be revealed in the next chapter. See you then!**


	6. Chapter 6: Rings and Cubes

**Author's Note: Not much to say here.**

**I do not own Sonic The Hedgehog. All rights belong to Sega.**

* * *

_Chapter 6: Rings and Cubes._

Meanwhile, in a secret port not too far from Starlight Carnival, Eggman was standing patiently as his Egg Mobile was in the process of having the finishing touches of something that Sonic the Hedgehog wouldn't suspect and was smirking evilly to himself. His two latest creations may have been destroyed by that blue rodent, but that didn't stop the evil doctor from going along with his latest plot.

"This is coming along perfectly. Ohohohoho! I just LOVE these machines! They are the true wonders of the world!" Eggman chuckled evilly.

To him, machines and robots are everything; from metal to metal, no eye-painful greenery or blue or any kinds of colour unless it was purple liquid and not water. As far as he was concerned, the world needed to be rid of everything that his enemy and many others love the most, and be put into his reality, the true reality.

His thoughts were interrupted when he heard a clatter and crash, shoving and groaning which made him groan in sheer annoyance.

"Hey, watch it, Cubot!" Becoe complained as he and the other four robots entered the docking area through the automatic doors.

"We don't wanna ruin the security feed!" Decoe added.

"Ain't it already ruined with all the sugar from that there o'l mountain of candy?" Cubot asked, still in his cowboy voice, shrugging in confusion. "I reckon too much o' that oughta give folks a tummy ache ev'n just by lookin' at i'."

"That doesn't make sense! You can't get a stomach ache just by looking at it!" Bokkun shook his head in exasperation.

"Be quiet, you inviduals!" Eggman finally snapped as he spun around, glaring in sheer annoyance at his minion who jumped in fright, and Orbot almost dropping Bokkun's small automatic camera. "I'm about to take off to give Starlight Carnival a visit and give our 'guest' a present he will never know or forget."

"Sorry, boss. But there's a few things you should know regards to Sonic's adventures in Sweet Mountain." Orbot replied politely.

"Besides the fact he smashed Captain Jelly into jelly pieces." Bokkun deadpanned.

The evil scientist growled impatiently. "Well, make it quick! I don't have time for this!"

"But you're gonna love what you see, doctor." Decoe perked up excitedly. "Sonic almost got fried while he was at one of the attractions."

"Fried? But the only thing fried are the popcorn...'cept there ain't no corn and I ain't got no pop, either." Cubot stated stupidly, making everyone else facepalm themselves over this comment. "Just those yellow seeds with yellow stuff on 'em."

"Yes, well, we all know that meddling little hedgehog escaped, otherwise the security cameras wouldn't have caught him at the Carnival-and releasing MY aliens!" Eggman exclaimed, stomping his foot on the floor angrily over Sonic's interference as usual.

"Well, remember that blue-berry pie that got delivered a few hours ago? The one that half exploded due to a hole being made too big before being shrunk by the secret shrinking device? Take a look at this." Becoe explained, as Orbot switched on the portal security camera and turned on what it recorded.

Eggman rolled his eyes behind his overly-tight purple sunglasses and watched what was unfolded; high from the moving road of giant pies on top of the huge oven were tons of them.

"That's not the _"Bake Me Crazy" _ride, you idiots! I had that installed in another part of Sweet Mountain last week!" He pointed out.

Before he got the reply from the robots, his expression turned from annoyance to surprise when he saw in the recording was Sonic who came into view by falling and landing right into the pile of giant blue berries. Even from a different angle, Eggman could see that his nemesis looked rather spooked, then relaxed before being sealed inside the thick dough cover. As Eggman watched with a growing smirk, he saw Sonic dig half-way out, but had found himself stuck, and when he turned to face the oven, the doctor could see the sheer horror and panic on the hedgehog's face before the blue hero tried to pull himself out, soon calling out for help.

While wondering in interest of how Sonic managed to escape from being burned to death, Eggman frowned in sheer disappointment that one of the orange aliens that the hedgehog no doubt rescued had flown into view, with Sonic begging it to help him and allowing him to use it's power to escape just in time. The hidden camera zoned in on Sonic who by then landed in the pile of popcorn and thanking the alien for saving his life before the recording ended.

"Well, it seems our little enemy isn't as sharp as he used to be. I would have enjoyed it more if he hadn't rescued that certain alien. To see him sent to his fiery demise would really have made my day. I almost wish he was inside that ruined pie. It would be worth the food poisoning to take a bite out of him." Eggman grinned evilly, chuckling away.

The robots stared at him in utter shock over this comment with wide-eyed expressions, all of them wondering if he really has cracked this time. Seeing their expressions and realizing what he said, even HE thought he was starting to go a little over the top.

"...I said almost!" Eggman waved his hands in defense. "I know I'm evil, but even I'm not _that_ cruel! Eating dead people burned inside pies is disgusting! Come on, give me some credit."

"Phew..." Decoe, Becoe, Bokkun, Orbot and Cubot sighed in relief.

"Besides, Sonic would ruin the taste no matter how much I hate him and want nothing more than to have him finished." He continued.

"Wouldn't he taste bad anyway since you hate him that much?" Cubot pointed out.

"YOU KNOW WHAT I MEAN!" Eggman shouted, before giving out his next orders. "Decoe, Becoe and Bokkun, you make sure the cannons are in good health. Orbot, you find a new voice chip for Cubot. I can't take that Cowboy accent anymore!"

"Yes, doctor!" The robots saluted before dashing out...all except Cubot who, not getting it, turned back to him.

"But you didn't take my voice." He pointed out, only to kicked to the door harshly by the man who growled in frustration.

Panting, Eggman sighed in exasperation. "And I thought Decoe and Becoe were stupid. Now they look like Einstiens compared to him. No matter."

He turned around and calmed down, once again grinning evilly as he muttered. "Very soon, Sonic...today will be the day when you will no longer have your freedom, and not be that annoying hero that you are. Because with this machine...you will be under my control!"

Eggman clutched his hand into a fist, chuckling.

* * *

Sonic continued to make his way after leaving the float and onto another purple path, determined to find Eggman and save the aliens while exploring more of the Starlight Carnival. Personally, while this place was awesome, with all the lights and such, the cobalt hedgehog was starting to get a little bit bored with seeing almost the same thing everywhere he went.

Eventually he landed on another float after leaping each float and road and attraction, fighting more robots and saving more aliens including the red ones and while Sonic still tried to gently and kindly avoid in using their powers, they still kept on letting him burrow them especially for a few obstacles which, as much as he hated to admit, needed help to get across.

"You'd think there'd be something else different in this part of the park. As cool as it is, I'm starting to fall asleep." He muttered to himself as he ran. Sonic then smirked, "But man, I wish I'd brought a camera. It'd be great to put into my scrapbook."

The blue hedgehog looked around as he gazed at the sky and the sights before him, sighing. "Much better place to take pictures than that last ugly theme park, and there were still photos taken of that place."

He suddenly blinked when he realized he blurted out his past again, and even though he tried to mask it, and he had done it pretty well before, he felt sadness loom over him. The moment he thought about it he softly gasped in realization; he'd normally mask his feelings because he had to, as such for being a hero. But now...

He openly admitted them not once, but twice. Sonic came so close in breaking down in front of Tails and Yacker on the Egg Shuttle and the former had tried to cheer him up which worked. But he then remembered what he said to Knuckles...and broke down there no matter how hard he tried to stop himself. Sonic gazed at his hands as the utter embarrassment, guilt and humiliation rose in his chest.

Sonic had cried uncontrollably...and Knuckles had seen him break down. Even worse, he knew why; the guilt he carried on his shoulders, and the fear of using too much of the Wisps' powers and draining them, as well as the fear of being too late to stop Eggman from draining all of it and killing the poor, friendly little guys. Not to mention the hallucinations that felt so real it made the blue hedgehog shiver.

"Oh man...What's wrong with me? How could I have turned into a complete wreck...!?" He muttered to himself with a groan, sitting on the floor and leaned against the wall, rubbing his face for a moment. "I thought I was feeling fine after two months."

Suddenly as if coming up with an answer, Sonic grumbled as he folded his arms and gazed up at the ceiling. "Maybe it's this place being so cool, and Eggman's face is enough to give me a bad reminder. But seriously? Enough to make me hallucinate and go crazy? I'm never gonna be able to live this down. And I can't use the aliens' powers without hurting them."

He then paused as another thought came up; What he felt was only just a little bit of it, and the powers of Laser, Boost, Drill, Rocket, and Burst were very powerful. Sonic's eyes widened as another realization hit him.

"But what would happen if I do absorb all of them? Sure, the aliens could die and that'd be my fault...but what would happen to _me?_" The blue hedgehog muttered, shivering again. Using all of the powers could not only kill the Wisps...but it could also overwhelm him...Maybe even take him over completely and turn him into...

A monster.

"Yeah...Definitely gonna be more careful from now on." Sonic muttered to himself, hugging himself as he suddenly didn't want to find out, very scared of that possibility.

"_**WHY BE CAREFUL, IF YOU COULD EMBRACE THE DESIRE OF POWER?**_"

"What!?" Sonic gasped, looking up sharply and gasped even louder in horror as a huge blood red eye was peering through the window of the float he was inside of. Or the large hole that was suddenly made and the teenage hedgehog could fully see the Werehog's face as it seemed to be holding the vessel in one grasp.

Sonic's stomach dropped as he whimpered, trying to lean as far away as he could, only finding himself trapped with his back pressed against the wall. "Not again!"

"_**FORGET THESE ALIENS, HEDGEHOG. ALLOW ME TO DEVOUR YOU ONCE YOU FUSE WITH ALL THEIR POWER.**_" The Werehog taunted, as though trying to convince Sonic to walk down a dark path which only terrified him even more.

'_Oh, great. Now this hallucination is trying to turn me evil...!_' Sonic thought to himself, as he tried to ignore the Werehog that was just in his head, and instead said to himself. "I really AM going crazy. If I didn't know any better, I swear that Eggman's Ferris Wheel of Doom did something to me that started this!"

"_**TALKING TO YOURSELF, ARE YOU, LITTLE HEDGEHOG? THAT WON'T HELP YOU...MY PREY.**_" The Werehog chuckled darkly. To Sonic's horror, it reached out it's hand again to grab him, and fear gripped him in his heart, unaware that a figure was coming around the corner.

The blue hedgehog squeeze his eyes shut and tried to focus really hard to make this hallucination go away, to bring himself back to reality. He tried thinking about finding Eggman, and saving the aliens. As Sonic attempted to calm down and mentally telling himself that he was okay, he was about to stand up when something touch his arm, which made him over-react for a split second.

"AAAHH!" He screamed as he thought for a moment that maybe it was real. "Hey, let me go!"

"Ugh, calm down! It's just me!" A familiar woman's voice grunted, with a bit of a fright in the tone.

"Huh?" Snapping his eyes open in surprise and confusion, not only was the hallucination over, but as Sonic glanced to his left to see who had really touched him on the arm, he blinked as a familiar bat stood, looking a bit startled and more than a little miffed.

Rouge the Bat, who folded her arms, looked at him in annoyance. "I've never known you to be that jumpy, big blue."

"Rouge?" Sonic muttered, not having expected to see her here either. "What're you doing here?"

"I'm here on the job, cutie-blue. Someone wanted me to check this place out." The Bat Thief smirked a little despite the unexpected scare, even if she was the one who scared him in the first place.

"G.U.N, you mean?" The blue hedgehog asked with a dull expression. It wouldn't be hard to guess who had sent Rouge here, given that she was not only a jewel thief, she was also one of the top spies of the G.U.N Organization along with Shadow and Omega.

Rouge's smirk grew slightly. "A lady never tells. It's client privilege."

"If ya' say so." Sonic shrugged, standing up before saying sarcastically. "Thanks for the near heart attack, by the way."

"Not my fault you were hallucinating."

His eyes widened in shock as he softly gasped when she said this. He stared at her in no small amount of panic. "You...how-what-huh? How'd you-?" He stuttered, unable to speak, his mind going blank.

"It's not a hard guess on what's going on in your head, Sonic." Rouge rolled her eyes, placing her hands on her hips. "You're hallucinating something, and that something has terrified you a lot. The thankful part is that you know that you're out of it right now."

Dang. Busted.

"I'm fine. Just a little more crazy than usual, but I'll get through it." Sonic responded, folding his arms and looked away. "Besides, as much as I'd like to chat and you know that I do, I've got a talking rotten egg to crack and aliens to save."

He quickly turned to her and added firmly, "And before you say 'aliens are evil' or something along the lines, these little guys are not. They're the ones in grave danger and being used for whatever plot Eggman's cooked up this time."

"Oh, I know about what you're doing, given what you said to Knuckles." She replied knowingly. He stared at her for a moment, before groaning loudly.

"You were spying on us." The blue hedgehog rolled his eyes, in a tone that wasn't a question. Great, even ROUGE knows that, which meant that, much to his humilation, she saw him crying too.

"For everything you said to Knuckie-Poo." The bat giggled.

Sonic shook his head, and he was good friends with her, sometimes Rouge was almost a bigger trickerster as Eggman. That thought suddenly made him realize something and given what Knuckles told him earlier, he realized that maybe his other friend was telling the truth.

"Oh, now I get it. You're here, and Knuckles is here, and he claims that Eggman didn't trick him...that means it was YOU who tricked him so that you can make sure he doesn't safe-guard the Master Emerald as well as doing your whatever it is you're doing job here. Am I right?" He surmised, with a smirk of his own.

Now it was her turn to look shocked as her eyes widened and her face turning slightly pink as a blush formed. She looked away sharply and denied unconvincingly. "I am not!"

The blue hedgehog gave her a smug grin as he gotten his little payback already. "Heh. I knew it. Wait 'till I tell Knucklehead about this. At least he can say that Eggman wasn't the one who tricked him this time."

"Okay fine, so I sent him a letter to come here after I was given the order to investigate this place, Mr. Smarty-Hog!" Rouge grunted, pouting that she lost this little bickering.

"He didn't mention anything about a letter. I can give you points for that." Sonic assured, his smirk still firmly in place. "Besides, he's not such a good liar. Out on a stroll in a place that has Eggman's name on it? Give me a break. There are plenty of places back at home to stroll in, and I jog around a lot wherever I wanna go."

"Stop changing the subject, mister!" The white bat yelled in annoyance.

"Alright, alright, calm down." Sonic held up his hands in defense, chuckling sheepishly. "Okay, so yeah I am seeing hallucinations, but it's not as bad as it sounds. Besides, even I know what I'm seeing aren't real. All in the past. It's the future I gotta worry about, like saving these aliens before Eggman drains them."

Calming down, Rouge sighed as she grumbled. "I do admit, a place like this attraction is my sort of place. It's too bad it'll be shut down and demolished by the time everyone else realize that Eggman's _"remorse"_ is fake as usual." She air-quoted the word 'remorse' when she said that.

"Take it from me; Never trust anything that comes out of that loser's mouth." The blue hedgehog advised, before turning as he waved at her. "I'm outta here. See you later, Rouge. Have fun!"

Before Sonic could take off, however, up ahead he noticed something in a small distance that caught him slightly off-guard. Not only there was another capsule standing there, but to his annoyance and Rouge's skepticism, another small group of instrument robots were playing more awful music. Though not as bad as the last three groups; these three had a flute which was off-key, another accordion that sounded like a squeaking bolt, and a tambourine that was just jiggling randomly and out of sync.

Shrugging nonchalantly, Sonic immediately spin dashed into them just as they were charging for an attack...and were smashed into pieces of broken metal seconds later, standing no chance at all.

"Well, that was a terrible sound." Rouge commented as she flew over before landing behind Sonic who stood up, dusting his hands off with a confident smirk.

"At least they weren't as bad as the last Noise-Bots Knuckles took care of." The blue hedgehog pointed out. He and his friend then noticed that the road was blocked off by blue boxs or cubes, which made both of them grumble in annoyance.

"Well, that's inconvenient." Rouge complained.

"I could always smash them into pieces. First things first, though." Sonic shrugged as he felt confident that he could easily spin dash into them, but he decided to let the alien out first and cracked open the capsule. To his surprise, this one was blue and really cool looking, shaped like a cube.

The blue Wisp spun around the blue hedgehog happily and excitedly for being freed, thankful for it's savior and amazed by what he could do.

"Hiya!" Sonic greeted with a wave. "Betcha you're glad to be out of that cramped space, aren't ya? Heh, totally understand that."

"&%$#$!" The Wisp squealed, and by judging how it sounded, Sonic quickly thought it was singing an alien tune which sounded kind of odd but nice. Much nicer than the Noise-Bots...and way nicer than Vector's singing, too for that matter.

"I don't know what it said, but I kind of like it's voice." Rouge admitted, thinking along the same lines.

Sonic nodded in agreement, and then introduced himself and his friend. "My name's Sonic, and this is my friend, Rouge. My other friends Tails and Knuckles are around here too, with your buddy Yacker. I freed him and your other friends throughout the park and you're the latest that I rescued."

'_He's talking to a cute alien who speaks gibberish._' The white bat deadpanned in her mind, quirking an eyebrow skeptically.

The little alien flew around the blue hedgehog, who shrugged. "Wish I knew what you were saying, little guy. But hey, you're free now, so-"

Before Sonic could finish, the blue wisp gazed at the cubes and seemed to have an idea, and was beginning to glow. Instantly he knew what it was about to do, and, remembering his promise and knowing it would hurt it, he had to try and stop it from hurting itself. Not to mention that he was scared of using too much of the Hyper-Go-Ons that would both cause the Wisp to die as well as doing something to him that he'll come to regret.

"Uh, h-hold on! T-that's not really necessary!" He quickly cried out, holding his hands up in defense. "L-look, I know that you guys wanna show your gratitude by lending me your powers for a little bit, but you don't have to. Your happiness is more than enough to thank me."

The Cube Wisp blinked in surprise at the decline, and even looked disappointed and sad. The sadness in it's eye made Sonic feel bad, realizing that he hurt it's feelings when he hadn't meant to.

"Hey, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to hurt your feelings, really." Sonic apologized quickly, feeling guilty. "It's not that I don't appreciate it, and your powers are really cool and helpful. It's just...I know what Baldy McNosehair is trying to do to you guys, and I don't want to hurt you."

He sighed, and scratched the top of his head, even as the Wisp looked ready to cry and it ached his heart even more. "I don't even know how to fully control your powers and...Honestly, I'll never forgive myself if anything worse happened to you little guys."

Despite that the Wisp still felt a bit hurt for being turned down, it could see that Sonic was afraid of draining away the Hyper-Go-Ons and was even more afraid that Eggman was trying to drain it's power along with the rest of it's kind. It then realized that the blue hedgehog wanted all of the Wisps to be safe and free and felt that he might accidentally absorb all of their power if he wasn't careful.

The blue Wisp lowered it's head before hovering over to him and hugged him, nuzzling it's face in his chest, and Sonic realized that it was still sad and yet maybe apologizing. He couldn't tell, but he knew that he inadvertently hurt it's feelings.

"I'm really sorry." He whispered, hugging the cute alien, wishing he could do something to make it feel better without it risking it's life. "Please don't be sad. It's just...I don't want you guys to die."

"%$#?" The blue Wisp babbled, dumbfounded now all of the sudden. It looked up at Sonic with a surprised expression, which surprised and confused the blue hedgehog as well. The two let go and the alien shook it's hands and head, making movements pointing at him, then itself, and then made a fainting pose before floating up straight and crossing it's arms in what Sonic could at least recognize as the 'no-way' gesture.

At least that's what he thought it looked.

"Um...You trying to tell me that I won't hurt you or cause you to die, even if I burrow your powers?" The blue hedgehog guessed with uncertainty. The blue wisp nodded, apparently happy that he guessed correctly.

While Sonic was still uncertain, he then remembered Tails telling him that he wasn't even hurting them and that the Wisps weren't even tired after he burrowed their powers. He then realized that they would have known or they wouldn't have even lend him their magic out of gratitude. That still left the problem with how Eggman was draining them of their Hyper-Go-Ons, though. Sonic may not be hurting them, but the evil mad doctor certainly was.

"...Are you sure?" He asked. When his new friend nodded despite Rouge looking skeptical, Sonic finally decided that he can still do this, but wanted to be cautious. He sighed with a smile. "Alright. You win. I am curious on what you can do, anyway."

The cube Wisp squealed and spun around happily and twirled around which made Sonic chuckle. It then formed into energy once more and flew right into his chest, and in that instant he felt the need to get something done; a much more powerful determination and passion, to do everything he could with all his ability, which sounded more like what he would want to do even without this kind of power. It was more a boost to his personality, if that sounded right...and he liked it.

Before he knew it, he transformed into a cube, rising high into the air and slamming the ground hard with a huge thud that nearly had Rouge lose her balance. The interesting part was that she noticed that the large cubes that blocked the pathway instantly turned into blue rings. Her eyes widened in awe as Sonic returned to normal, and he too saw what happened just as the alien flew out of him. The blue hedgehog let out an impressed whistle.

"That's what I call an un-block." He said, amazed himself. Sonic turned to the wisp who looked pretty proud of itself and he gave it a thumbs up and wink. "That was sweet! You were amazing."

His new friend looked bashful and Sonic couldn't help but chuckle, then said apologetically. "Hey, I'm sorry for hurting your feelings, little guy. Guess I was overreacting. So, no hard feelings?"

The blue alien shook it's head with an understanding look and hugged him again, which caused the blue hedgehog to laugh, relieved that everything was fine between them, before the cute wisp waved a goodbye to him and even to Rouge who, stunned by what she saw, waved at it with a small smile, and Sonic waved it a goodbye as it flew off to freedom.

"Gotta say, big blue, that was pretty impressive." Rouge remarked.

"You can thank the aliens for that. Pretty cool, huh?" Sonic replied with a thumbs up.

His friend then snickered in amusement as she added, "I've been meaning to ask, but...Who came up with Eggman's new nick-name? I mean, really? _'Baldy McNosehair'_?"

"Well, I added the _"Mc"_ in the Nosehair part. It was the aliens who came up with it, and before you ask how I know, Tails made this translating thingie to help us understand these guys better. He's somewhere around here with one of the aliens called Yacker and he's the one who's been telling us what's going on with Eggman." The blue hedgehog explained, snickering himself as he still found the nick-name hilarious.

"Not only these little aliens are friendly and darn cute, but they sure have a good sense of humor." The white bat stated, as she moved around and began collecting the blue, shiny rings.

"Why am I not surprised that you'd do that?" Sonic sighed in exasperation as he watched her collect the transformed items with a knowing smile.

"You know me, honey. I can never resist anything that is shiny and beautiful, and these will make lovely bracelets for the market." Rouge grinned coyly, with an armful of blue rings.

After a moment of pause, Sonic shrugged while shaking his head. "Ah, whatever, be my guest. It's not like Eggman's gonna complain 'bout it and I've never been a huge fan of jewellery anyway. Besides, at least these rings are for free and I got a feeling that there'll plently more throught this area once I'm done with the transforming them from blocks if I come across anymore of the blue aliens."

As Sonic said goodbye to Rouge and then sped off through the new pathway to find a way out of the float and continue his quest, his friend stood there pausing in her collecting, before grumbling to herself as she realized one thing that she didn't get the chance to talk about.

"He still hasn't told me what he was hallucinating about."

* * *

Not along after departing from Rouge, Sonic continued attempting to find his way out and encountered more aliens which he freed, some like the Cyan ones that helped him out with Laser, and others like the Orange ones that were a huge help with Rocket, even though he was still cautious on how he would use them, seeing how they really weren't all that tired, felt a little bit better, he realized that they really were much stronger than he thought.

'_Guess that's why Eggman kidnapped them, because he figured out that they have almost unlimited energy. The Hyper-Go-Ons really are powerful._' He thought to himself as he finally emerged outside and jumped off the ledge and landed on another glittering path that lead him the way.

"Still, I don't wanna use up all of their powers. I'll only burrow them in case of emergency. Come to think of it, it's like with the Chaos Emeralds, only with cute and friendly aliens and not crystals." Sonic muttered aloud. He then realized that there was a similarities between the Chaos Emeralds and the Aliens' Hyper-Go-Ons.

Powerful enough energies can do good things, but can also cause destruction and disaster if in the wrong hands. Sonic already knew that using all of the power of the Aliens would kill them, but seeing how powerful they are made him even more terrified. Not just for himself if he made the ultimate mistake of using all of it that could potentially overwhelm him-maybe even turn him...evil, like the Werehog would want(at least the hallucination attempted to convince him, which he attempted to ignore), but knowing Eggman's history, it was much more sinister.

"Man. It'll be like with Dark Gaia all over again, only without splitting the world apart. Or even Chaos." He shuddered at the terrible thought. Whatever it was, the cobalt hedgehog knew that he was one step closer in solving the mystery.

He could feel it.

"_**Remember.**_" Eggman's voice called out from the PA. "_**For your safety, please avoid-as well as-never under any circumstances-it is a living being and will bite your face off.**_"

Sonic raised an eyebrow, suddenly more than a little nervous. "Please tell me it's not anything like the Werehog or anything like that. Hope that was just Eggman's sad attempt of a joke."

While he was musing this, the blue hedgehog noticed a wormhole in a distance off the path and a fleet of ships emerging. But what caught Sonic off-guard was a much larger, giant ship emerging that really made him feel small and insignificant by comparison. The size of an ant, even.

"Whoa! That thing's huge!" Sonic exclaimed, realizing that the purple road was leading him straight towards it and away from the wormhole. "This reminds me of when Chip gathered the temples to form the giant colossus to fight Dark Gaia, and that made me feel small back then too-miniscle, in fact. Heh, actually, both of them did."

Mindful of where he was going, Sonic was forced to leap off the path and into the enormous ship and ran to find his way out as he suddenly felt he didn't want to get lost. He found another capsule which was surrounded by a horde of robots as he then realized he reached a dead end. Eyes widening even as he used Spin Dash to bash up some, others were relentless and he had to dodge their laser guns and even instruments that were being swished around.

To make things worse, said dead end was cornered off by more blocks and Sonic sweatdropped. This was a big problem. How was he going to get out of this mess? As he looked over his shoulder and his heart leaped into his throat as the horde of robots were closing in on him. But he masked his anxiety with a glare before seeing the capsule and as much as he didn't want to force it, he did promise that he'd use the Wisps' powers in case of an emergency.

This definitely qualifies as an emergency!

"Hey, bot-heads! I bet you wouldn't count on this!" He taunted with a smirk, dashing forward and zigzagging past the lasers and other weapons the robots fired at him before he karate-kicked and punched some and even knocking some of the instruments from their metal hands, sliding underneath three while two accidentally destroyed themselves when they attempted to kill him, and leaped over another, somersaulting in mid-air before landing next to the capsule.

Sonic quickly cracked open the capsule as, to his luck, another Cube Wisp flew out and spun all around him happily before it realized that they weren't out of the woods yet. It flinched as the blue hedgehog shrugged a little while the robots turned to their targets and, seeing the alien freed, rose to priority one to recapture it and kill the intruder.

"I know this is too much to ask and we both like to be free and survive this, but do ya' think you can let me burrow your power so that we can get outta here?" Sonic quickly asked with a nervous sweatdrop as the robots advanced on him and the blue alien.

Thankfully the little alien was more than willing to agree and plunged right into the hedgehog who jumped high, knowing what he had to do.

"CUBE!" He shouted.

Transforming as he leaped into the air, Sonic slammed into the ground forcefully which caused another shockwave, which was much stronger than he thought because it smashed two robots into nothing, and he slammed again take out the others. Returning to normal briefly, he ran past the destroyed bots and repeated the process until about half a second later he reached the blocks and slammed into the ground once again, which turned them into rings.

The moment he returned to normal, Sonic turned to observe the damage and he was even more surprised that he defeated the robots with the power of Cube in just a few hits. While he was stunned by this, the alien emerged out of him and looked quite relieved and happy with the results.

"That was a quite a punch." He commented, turning to the blue alien with a smile. "You guys really are something!"

The blue Wisp giggled happily and was about to fly around him when the two then heard a crushing sound coming from above. When Sonic and the Wisp looked up, their eyes widened in shock as the ceiling began to fall towards them. They both shared a horrified glance.

"Let's get outta here!" He all but screamed, and the alien couldn't agree more. It plopped itself onto Sonic's head as the blue hedgehog quickly made a run for it, narrowly avoiding in being crushed by the ceiling. But even as he managed to escape from that, more ceilings came crushing down and if Sonic hadn't been known as the fastest thing alive, he wouldn't be coming out of this alive right now.

He continued to make his way out and as he found more blocks and robots that got in the way, Sonic and the Wisps both shared nods of agreement and the latter once again absorbed itself into the former and used Cube to make their way out. Though he felt really terrible for doing as such, he knew that there wasn't much of a choice. After what seemed like forever, the duo, with the alien coming back out of the blue hedgehog, finally made it out and Sonic leaped from the ship and onto another path, with the alien again on his head.

Sonic didn't mind. In fact, not only he gave him company, but it also reminded him of the times when Chip used to ride on his head occasionally during their and Sun's adventure.

"Well, that was an experience! You doin' okay, little guy?" He asked with a smile, the adrenaline of panic all but vanished, replaced by excitement and thrill now that they relatively safe for the time being. The Wisp nodded as it chirped, a bit dazed from the close call but all in all good spirits and health. Sonic laughed, content in having his temporary companion enjoy the ride as he continued along the road.

He and the Wisp soon found the road ended with a giant yellow spring and seeing it gave the blue hedgehog an idea as he couldn't help but grin devilishly. While his new friend saw this and flew off his head and decided to fly, Sonic jumped and bounced onto it experimentally. It allowed him to go forward and while he was more content to run, this was better than nothing and it was really fun.

While Sonic was a bit disappointed that this world was nothing than glowing roads that were twisted with loops and turns and giant floating ships, gazing at them suddenly made him think about the battleships in his previous adventures. As he was thinking about it, he gasped as suddenly a hovering ball that looked like a disco ball came out of nowhere and began shooting green blasts. Not just as him as the Mobian hero leaped off the yellow spring and back onto another road, but also the Wisp who babbled a scream in it's own language and that made his blood boil in anger.

"HEY! Not cool!" The blue hedgehog shouted, doing his best to dodge it without falling off and as soon as he was close to his new friend, he dared to jump high and attempted to spin dash at the firing hover ball. He successfully knocked it away, but gasped in horror as one of the blasts hit the alien on the arm and sending it falling down into the vast of space, wailing in pain.

"NOOOO!" Sonic screamed, and without much thinking he dared to leap and caught the injured alien in his arms, but found another problem: He was falling and floating away into space, to be forever lost. He held onto the Wisp tightly in his chest while shutting his eyes, bracing himself for the end.

As luck would have it, just when Sonic thought he and the Wisp were about to die, another float came into view underneath them just in time and the two crashed through the floor of the deck and inside another room. The landing though wasn't crash hot, as Sonic found himself tumbling and rolling a few times which forced him to let go of the alien who flew out and landed hard on the floor before they both stopped, with the blue hedgehog landing face first and then flopped onto the ground.

Groaning at the splitting headache and sheer close call, Sonic pushed himself up while holding a hand to his forehead before looking up ahead and felt his body run cold. The Wisp was laying on the ground, seemingly not moving. Eyes widening in absolute horror, briefly forgetting to breathe and his heart beating loudly in his ears, and pounding hard against his chest like a rock threatening to escape, he could only stare for a few seconds.

"No..." The blue hedgehog whispered, immediately standing up and rushed over before falling onto his knees, and found that the alien's injury was worse than he thought. Deep red and green oozed from it's arm slightly, but it didn't look like it was breathing. He gently scooped it up and cradled it.

"Are you okay? C'mon, say something!" Sonic pleaded frantically. "Please, speak to me!"

To his relief, the alien stirred, blinking it's eyes slowly and then gazed up at the hedgehog who felt a mixture of relief and guilt in his emerald green eyes. The Cube Wisp was at first a bit disoriented, then it remembered being hit by the green blast from the hover ball and then realized that it's savior had saved it's life again.

"%#$*&..." The cute little alien squeaked, flinching and tearing up a bit as it's arm stung and continued to slowly but slightly bleed.

Sonic sighed in relief that his new friend was okay, then gently hugged it, nuzzling his face carefully on it's head, also guilty for having put it into danger. "I'm sorry...I'm very, deeply sorry. If only I was faster, then you wouldn't be hurt like this..."

Feeling his eyes sting in tears, he closed them as he tried to hold them back even if they began to leak in the corners. He whispered as his voice was choked with tears. "...It's all my fault."

He tried hard not to cry, but his heart ached with the guilt that was unbearable. While the blue Wisp in his arms felt tears in it's eyes and knew that Sonic had only tried to save it-twice in a row-and felt like it's injuries was his fault, it babbled in it's langauge it saw more of it's kind appear from the hole in the ceiling as they had seen what had happened, including that the blue hedgehog had risked his life to save it again; three Cyan, two Orange, and one blue like the one in Sonic's arms. The other blue one hovered over and gently wiped away a leaking tear in the corner of his eye.

"Huh?" Sonic muttered, feeling it and opened his eyes. He blinked in surprise to see the aliens that he saved earlier had gathered all around him. The blue hedgehog turned his head to gaze at them as they all held concerned looks in their eyes. "It's you guys..."

The Wisps all nodded, and Sonic's guilt only increased, as he felt like they were going to demand what happened and then be angry with him to which he was afraid that they wouldn't trust him because of his actions.

"I'm sorry! I tried to save your friend! He got hurt because I wasn't fast enough to save him from that laser-ball-bot!" He cried out in guilt, lowering his head as he found himself unable to look at them. "Please...please help him...Please forgive me...!"

Seeing how he was blaming himself for something that wasn't his fault, the aliens all held tears in their eyes and one of the Cyan ones floated over and gently gave the distraught hedgehog a pat on the head which made Sonic slowly look up with uncertainty and saw that none of the aliens looked angry or upset with him at all. Even if he couldn't really read their eyes or understand their language without Tails' translator, they looked more concerned than anything else. The Wisp that was attempting to comfort him then nodded to it's other companions who shared it and then held out their hands, glowing in auras of different colours.

While Sonic had no idea what was going on and found that it was like he was staring at a beautiful aura of a rainbow up close, he then noticed the alien in his arms was glowing in different colours as well. To his amazement, the Wisp's injury faded away, cleaned up and closed up, fully healed as though the green blast never hit it. The blue hedgehog gasped in awe, astonished by this incredible healing ability he never knew the Wisps were capable of when together.

Fully healed and boosted with energy, the blue Wisp beamed as Sonic gently let it go, and it flew around happily before being surrounded by it's friends as they all squealed in relief and happiness to be reunited, hugging each other. Sonic smiled in relief and happiness, and while he still felt terrible for what has happened, the fact that the Wisp was going to be okay was enough to make him feel a bit better. He wiped away his tears as his newly healed friend flew over to him.

"Hey, I'm sorry, little buddy. I'm so glad that you're gonna okay." He told it, adding with determination to continue his quest and atone for what has happened. "I promise, I will stop Eggman who you call Baldy Nosehair and free the rest of your kind, so that you can all be safe and get your freedom back!"

The response he got was the blue alien having an emotional look in it's eyes and hugged him in the chest, and Sonic couldn't help but return it. The two were quickly joined by the rest of them and they all hugged and tickled the blue hedgehog who laughed as they gave out babbles of happiness, forgiveness and laughter themselves, and even thanking him for saving their lives, for being so brave and kind and gentle. They knew without a doubt that Sonic the Hedgehog, even though they had only just met, deeply cared about them and their freedom.

Once they all calmed down, the aliens let go of Sonic who stood up and was relieved they held no anger or distrust towards him at all. He gave them a thumbs up and a wink, and the wisps all nodded happily before they all waved a goodbye and then flew off. The last one to leave was the one that had just been healed.

"You had me scared, little guy. Guess we both gotta be more careful around this place, huh?" He stated, and his new friend nodded before it gently tapped him on the top of his nose, which caused Sonic to blink in surprise. It giggled at his expression as he then smiled a little before the two shared a goodbye and he watched it flew out to rejoin it's other friends and towards it's freedom.

Sonic stood there for a moment, before finding himself blush as he scratched the side of his face. "I love these little guys."

Now with renewed determination to save the rest of the aliens and making sure that none of them would get hurt anymore as well as promising himself to be extra more careful in order to protect his friends, both old and new, Sonic sped off to find a way out of his float which, while it saved his and the Wisp's lives, suddenly remembered what he thought about of it and the rest of the fleet earlier.

"With so many of these, I wouldn't put past Egghead that they're actually battleships to keep everybody in line back on Mobius." He muttered to himself as he ran, which also made him think that Eggman really came up with a perfect disguise to hide the fact that they were his War-machines.

Sonic then rolled his eyes and shook his head with a smirk. "Good thing my instincts were right, but at the same time, for a place that's evil, it's so cool. The Tropical Restort was awesome, Sweet Mountain is great if you don't get sick or baked alive while you're there, and Starlight Carnival is totally flashy!"

As there were still three other planets he had yet to explore and save, Sonic knew that his adventure was far from over. He still had to find the generator which he had a feeling was part of the evil scheme and also had a feeling that if he shut them down, it would foil Eggman's plot even further.

Good thing Sonic was always the heroic type.

* * *

**A/N: Sorry that this chapter was shorter than the last one. I was originally going to keep up with each world being in two parts, but it looks like I'll have to do half of the next one ending Starlight Carnival and the other half leading towards the Wisps' Homeworld. Can't be helped, I'm afraid.**

**See you later!**


	7. Chapter 7: Flying Hedgehogs and Whales?

**Author's Note: Another chapter here and the story continues on!**

**I want to say thank you to gregorian 12 for coming with a few ideas for this chapter which helped a lot. Please be aware that I did not use all of it, if that's okay. Anywho, enjoy!**

**I do not own Sonic The Hedgehog. All rights belong to Sega.**

* * *

_Chapter 7: Flying Hedgehogs and Whales?_

Even though he still felt guilty for what happened back there, Sonic reassured himself that his new friends were going to be fine as long as he didn't make the same mistake for being careless again. Though something within him was saying that it could happen again if he wasn't careful. But he couldn't worry about that right now. He had to find Eggman and the generator as well as save the rest of the aliens before it was too late.

'_It may be okay for me to burrow them as long as I just use a little bit of their powers, and they're amazing with their incredible healing energy. It's stronger than the healing powers from the Chaos Emeralds!_' Sonic thought to himself as he ran along the path after leaving the float sometime later.

Despite that, he couldn't help but fear that it would only be a matter of time before everything changes. "But at the rate Eggman's going, he's gonna keep on going until all of the aliens' powers are gone...and they'll die. Nothing lasts forever, after all. I'd better hurry!" He muttered, narrowing his brows and increased his speed.

As he did, the blue hedgehog glanced around his surroundings again while trying to figure out which way to go next until he gazed at the small dark planet below which he'd been keeping an eye on. It suddenly registered in his mind and smirked.

"If I'm right, then the generator's there. All I gotta do is get to it and that thing's junk heap!" Sonic snickered to himself with a confident smirk. Even though he had no idea how to get there yet, it wasn't much of a problem for an adventurer like him, and while he really did want to save the aliens and stop Eggman before they all lost their lives, he was also content to explore more of this world and the other three he had yet to see.

As the teenager soon found his road ending, he leaped off and free fell towards another fleet below only to find himself at the risk of large spikes and Aero Chasers beginning to shoot out blue lasers ready to kill him. Yelping, Sonic did his best to dodge by spin dashing into one of the robots which caused it to stumble backwards out of control before it hit another and created a domino effect and the last one of the short line ended up impaling itself with a spike or two.

He then came across not only another alien capsule that he was just about to open and free the trapped Wisp inside, but also, much to his dismay, more Noise-Bots as the blue hedgehog ran again and skid to a stop. Three violins, and was carrying a portal piano around it's metal body. As they then shot lasers out of their chests which forced him to repeatedly side-step and jump out of the way, Sonic winced as they then began making a noise in a sad attempt to play music. The violins were making making horrid screeching sound, and the piano was just being banged on while making off-key notes. He knew that they were trying to distract him along enough to vaporize him.

As Sonic was covering his ears while dodging, he grumbled to himself as he couldn't handle it anymore. "I'll just go ahead and put them out of their misery."

The robots apparently saw that their strategy wasn't working and made to charge. Too bad for them that Sonic was quicker, because he sped forward while dodging more of their attacks with a grin and easily air-kicked the piano out of one of them before kicking it's torso with ease before curling into a ball and sharpened his quills to slice and smash into it into pieces and then went for one of the Violin-Bots, karate-kicking it's head and smashing it's violin in half. When he flipped back and landed safely to quickly finish off the other two when they paused and looked at their fallen comrades in silence.

As Sonic raised an eyebrow and briefly wondered what they were waiting for, the two robots appeared to be having a look with some sort of sadness, because they began playing sad, melancholy music which only made the blue hedgehog sweatdrop, dumbfounded.

While the music was playing, Sonic broke the fourth wall by shrugging at the readers/viewers as he muttered to himself. "When Eggman said earlier that these robots are really sensitive, he wasn't kidding."

Deciding to forget this weirdness, even with a little bit of guilt-just a little-he quickly took care of the two robots who, in their distraction, were smashed into pieces instantly and their music cut off and instruments also smashed. With that done, the blue hedgehog headed over to the capsule and opened it, freeing the alien which was yet another one he hasn't seen before; it was green and oval-shaped, with three stubby appendages and a single blue eye.

The green Wisp almost instantly reminded Sonic of Chip's necklace and for a split second, the blue hedgehog hallucinated and saw his friend in the place of the alien and giving him a wave.

'_Chip? What are you doing?_' He thought, and while he knew that the alien was right there in reality, Sonic couldn't help but feel some sort of relief in his heart.

"_Be yourself, Sonic. Don't let guilt or fear overcome you._" Chip whispered encouragingly.

While Sonic had no idea what this hallucination of his friend meant, he blinked in confusion. Which as he did his vision returned to reality and Chip was gone. The alien that he'd just rescued hovered there, gazing him in confusion itself before it flew around him in a bubbly fashion, squealing happily as though it was laughing in relief and happiness to have it's freedom back.

"Guess you're glad to be out of there, huh, little guy?" Sonic muttered as he quickly recovered from his hallucination episode, which was one he was glad that made him feel relieved and somewhat safe, not like the ones with the Werehog. The green Wisp nodded.

The blue hedgehog chuckled before realizing that the only way to keep going forward is to go up, and even with his super sonic speed, there was no way he'd get up there. The alien seemed to have sensed his dilemma because it floated beside him while trying to hide it's concern, and as much as Sonic really didn't want to risk of using the power of the Hyper-Go-Ons, it was times like this that he had no choice.

"Um, you wouldn't happen to be able to help me get up there and fly, would ya?" He asked thoughtfully with a hopeful smirk.

His new friend nodded eagerly as it seemed very happy before it caught Sonic by surprise, and flew right into him.

"WHOA-AHH!" Sonic yelped as he suddenly found himself floating without time to think. He began to glow green and, feeling even more carefree than he ever felt, the blue hedgehog began hovering through the air like a small balloon or a blimp. The power of the Wisp carried him far beyond the ledge and he ascended high, flying past the platforms and dodging many enemies.

As soon as Sonic got used to it, he felt it wear off and began to return to normal. Fortunately, he landed safely on his feet on the metal floor while the little alien flew out of him. He couldn't help but chuckle with an excited smile and thanked the Wisp who nodded in return before flying off towards freedom. Even though he really didn't want to continuously use their powers, the feeling being able to fly freely like that was amazing and fun.

Continuing onward, the blue hedgehog fought more robots with sharp blades and freed more aliens, such as the white ones that increased his speed, and another green one that allowed him to hover to higher places and even take out more robots with quite a punch. Eventually the blue hedgehog found himself staring at a tall tower that reached to the star-lit sky, with more Noise-Bots with instruments and lots of capsules with more trapped Wisps inside them.

"How did Eggman kidnap so many? And how many does he want? A lifetime supply and keep on killing them until his own decsendent runs out in the future or something?" Sonic asked himself, his heart breaking once again at so many captured little creatures that he had grown to love, and utterly furious with the evil man who had taken things way too far, to be just as cruel as he always had been.

It was unforgivable.

He stayed calm, however, and immediately leaped up each ledge while kicking and punching and karate-chopping many robots and opening the capsules, freeing the Wisps who expressed their gratitude by lending him their powers and as little as he could, Sonic allowed them to give it to him while focusing on his task. One was another green Wisp who giggled in it's language happily and hovered around his head.

The two then noticed a drone with blades coming straight at them, and from behind them as they heard more noise, more robots, some that Sonic was shocked to find that he missed as he gasped, making their way up to end his life and recapture the aliens. He was about to try and come up with a solution on how to fight them, the green alien gazed at him and seeing it's expression, he knew that it wanted to help.

He would have to accept while being careful.

"Okay! Let's get back at them for trapping you and your friends!" Sonic readily agreed as he already knew what it was trying to say. The alien nodded happily and absorbed itself into his body.

The robots were closing in as Sonic focused, before he shouted aloud.

"HOVER!"

Glowing green and hovering once more, Sonic curled up tightly and spun around and around, up and down as he took out the robots and drones on the heads, causing them to descend and lose control, a couple crashing into each other and exploding, the rest stumbling and crashing onto the path or falling to be forever lost in space. The blue hedgehog in the meantime hovered the rest of the way up while he gazed at the sights, seeing almost all of the carnival that made him feel even more excited.

As soon as Sonic reached the top along with the other freed aliens who, seeing what has happened, all flew towards him when he returned to normal and landed safely, and the green alien coming out of him.

"Well, hi!" Sonic greeted the group of Wisps that he saved.

" #&$* $%&%^ ." The green Wisp babbled happily, and the other aliens all nodded in agreement, twirling around happily as they too babbled in their language. Even though he wished Tails was here with his translator, and wondered how his best friend and Yacker were doing at the moment, and even Knuckles and Rouge, Sonic had a feeling they were thanking him for saving their lives.

"Aw, no need to thank me. I like helping out others, and I always do it because it's the right thing to do." The blue hedgehog said, smiling. That seemed to sastisfy the aliens even more, before the sky lit up even brighter than usual, as from this height, the sky was just as bright and Sonic and the Wisps could see the stars and far away worlds. The source of the extra light were fireworks going off.

"Whoa..." Sonic murmured in awe, and the aliens gave out their own babbles of amazement as well. The sight from this height was really something else. "Sure is beautiful from up here, isn't it? Way past cool."

The Wisps all nodded in agreement, their eyes just as glittering in awe as his own. The blue hedgehog gazed at the aliens and asked, "You don't see this often in your home world, do you?"

Gazing at him in surprise, one of the white aliens babbled something in it's language. Sonic chuckled, and explained, "I've been to high places back in my home world, but never anything like this. It's even a rarer occasion to see your home from far away, and if there's one thing I always knew when I was a kid, our planets should never be taken for granted. Everybody's born in them, and our worlds are places to call home. The same with our friends and families. They're all more important to us than anything else, and I know that your friends are very important to you guys."

Nodding, Sonic gave them a warm smile. "That's why I'll do everything I can to free you and the rest of your kind and I got a feeling you're feeling home sick, aren't you, little guys? I promise, everything will be okay."

The Wisps looked very touched by his wisdom and kindness, because a couple produced tears in their eyes, and one of the white ones then started crying before being comforted by one of the other white ones. Sonic gasped in shock and concern.

"Oh, hey! I'm sorry! I didn't mean to upset you! Please, don't cry." The blue hedgehog cried out, worriedly and panicking a little. He really didn't like tears, and he hated it whenever people cried, especially his friends. The young hero really didn't know what to do whenever someone cried, and it always made him feel guilty. Which was why he always did his best to cheer them up other than to comfort them.

The alien that was crying looked up and, realizing that the blue savior thought he did something wrong, wiped away it's tears and shook it's head before hovering over to him and rubbed it's head against his nuzzle. Sonic chuckled at the ticklish sensation before it stopped.

"Oh, I get it. You were crying because you're happy with what I said, right?" He realized, scratching the top of his head, and the alien nodded, perking up. "Man, do I wish I could understand the same language as you."

'_Or at least you guys could speak English._' He added to himself.

Sonic and the Wisps then said goodbye as the latter group then flew away to rejoin the rest of their friends and to their freedom. As he watched them, the blue hedgehog glanced around and turned his attention to the dark planet and then noticed that, while still a bit far away, he noticed something odd on it; silver with a small flicker of purple, along with metal almost covering the surface. He smirked.

"Ha. I knew it. The generator is there. Just gotta get to it and shut it off, along with beating whatever giant killer robot Eggman has come up with down to size." He chuckled to himself.

With that thought in mind as well as deciding that he should really check up on Tails and Yacker, Sonic quickly left the tower and continued onward toward his goal.

* * *

A while later, Sonic met up with Tails who had been doing some exploring himself while Yacker was checking up on his latest released friends and even though the translator still didn't translate right at first, the curl-headed alien thanked the blue hedgehog. After that, the two best friends made the short journey to where the generator was, as Sonic was telling Tails how he met up with Knuckles and Rouge separately, freeing the aliens including the new blue and green ones, and the Noise-Bots.

"...Yeah, Yacker and I tried to avoid those noisy robots. I think my ears are still ringing from that awful sound that's supposed to be music." Tails replied, rubbing the back of his head as Sonic finished telling his story.

"That kind of terrible sound makes Vector's singing sound like a Christmas Carol, doesn't it?" Sonic shook his head in agreement. "I'll really never understand fathead's tastes in anything."

He then sighed as he and the two-tailed fox finally approached the generator, which was exactly like the one Sonic discovered at Sweet Mountain. "But man, this park is huge."

"Yeah, Eggman could be anywhere." Tails agreed.

What they didn't even realize was that Eggman was very close. So close that the evil man was hiding right behind the generator, waiting for them to come closer. The mad doctor snickered silently to himself as he listened in on the duo's conversation as he was about to put his plan into motion, believing that victory was to finally be his, and Sonic wouldn't be aware of it until it was too late.

"Indeed I could. But I'm right behind this generator!" Eggman whispered with an evil gleam in his eyes, and sinister grin. He was in his Egg Mobile which was attached to his latest creation; a dark pod with tubes which held purple energy that was ominous and extremely dangerous, with a large laser in front of his mobile.

As he saw Sonic and Tails walk closer before stopping and look around, Eggman chuckled darkly as he was about to finally have his blue enemy as his slave. "That's it, hedgehog. Stand there and be a nice little target."

Eggman then pushed a button which began to activate his machine. It made a loud humming noise as it powered up. Sonic, completely unaware of the danger he and Tails were in, picked up the unusual noise and looked around in confusion.

"Tails? Is that you humming?" The blue hedgehog asked, and ultimately making the grave mistake to turn around...and his back turned to the direction that would end his freedom had his adoptive little brother not notice.

The eight year old fox was about to answer when he turned to the generator and gasped in horror as he saw the evil scientist approach from behind the generator and aimed his laser...at his best friend! In that instant Tails realized in quick thought that Sonic had been right all along, and even worse, he was about to get hit.

'_OH NO!_' The two-tailed kit thought in horror, and without much else thinking, did the only thing he could do. "SONIC, LOOK OUT!"

"HUH!?" Sonic spun around in alarm, only having enough time to see his best friend rush over to him with a panicked expression and before the blue hedgehog could move and he caught a flash of purple at the corner of his eye and managed to see the laser fire, Tails shoved him away from the firing line, causing him to stumble back. To his horror, however, he could only watch as his little brother was hit and was being electrocuted and held in place by the laser.

"_AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!_" Tails screamed in agony as he was being forced to absorb the purple energy into his body which was twitching out of control.

Sonic somersaulted and skid to a stop, his eyes widening in pure horror, his emerald green pupils shrinking, his heart freezing up along with the blood in his veins, his breathing becoming all shaky as realization hit him like a ton of bricks.

'_No...no, no, no, NO!_' He thought in devastation, and massive guilt that was overwhelming him.

"TAILS!" The blue hedgehog screamed, reaching out a hand as the fear of losing his sweet little brother was quickly consuming him. Not Tails. Not his best friend/little brother!

Fury then took over as Sonic glared up at the culprit who was behind this, while Eggman frowned at first, but then smirked evilly as he then came up with another idea, especially when he caught Sonic's devastated and then furious expression. He may have failed to turn the hedgehog into his minion, but he can at least make him suffer.

"Eggman...!" Sonic growled with gritted teeth, as in that instant he wanted nothing more than to have the cruel scientist in pieces. With a clutched shaking fist, the hero of Mobius dashed to attack his enemy, but was forced to skid to a stop as Tails, who had fallen unconscious, suddenly stand up and stood in front of him, with the purple laser still hitting him. To make things worse, Tails had a completely dull and lifeless look in his eyes, his expression looking like a mixture of a zombie and an evil puppet.

That last thought made the blue hedgehog's heart freeze for the second time.

"Tails? Buddy?" Sonic muttered worriedly, but all he could see was an empty shell within those former sweet blue eyes. His stomach dropped in horror as the full realization that his best friend, his little brother...was gone.

"Ho ho ho! He's _my_ buddy now!" Eggman bellowed evilly, enjoying every moment of Sonic's horror and loss.

'_No...NOOOOO!_' The blue hedgehog thought. His nemesis had turned his best friend into his puppet, and that meant the laser was some kind of brain-washing device...and even worse, Sonic realized that Eggman had intended on turning the hero himself into what Tails had sacrificed himself to become...to save his older brother's life and freedom. Suddenly his nightmare was rapidly coming true, and it almost had been. Oh, Chaos, Sonic had come dangerously close in losing and having Eggman control the world in his absence.

Suddenly the blue hedgehog couldn't deny it anymore; he failed again. He put everybody in danger, and while Sonic had almost been caught and trapped again, he wished that he'd moved quicker and not turned his back to Eggman. Then Tails wouldn't have lost his free will.

"WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO HIM!?" Sonic demanded furiously.

"Me?" Eggman asked in fake innocence. "Why, I've done nothing at all..." He snickered evilly as he explained while gesturing at his device. "Unless shooting him with my mind control beam that runs on alien energy counts as doing something to him. Now does it?"

'_So THAT'S why he's using the alien's power! He's transformed it into a brain-washing power to take over Mobius and hypnotize everyone, and killing the aliens at the same time!_' Sonic thought to himself in horror, guilt and anger. That thought alone made him feel sick in the stomach. How Eggman was configuring the Hyper-Go-Ons into a hypnosis power, the blue hedgehog had no idea, and he didn't want to find out.

Even worse, if those tubes had the alien's energy within them, that could only mean one thing; especially when it was this powerful to take over his best friend's mind.

He was too late. In his best efforts to try and free all of the captured aliens, he was too late to save those that Eggman had used. The blue hedgehog felt horror, guilt, and fury within himself. Those poor Wisps that he'd been unable to save...

They were already dead.

Sonic tried to control his anger even as he attempted on dashing towards his enemy, but was forced to stop when the mind-controlled Tails stood in front of him. To make matters worse, no matter how fast the teenager was, his now possessed best friend was somehow quicker than him, and the cobalt hedgehog had a feeling that the alien's corrupted energy had increased the speed; the speed from the white aliens, maybe.

"To get to me, you're going to have to go through your best friend. Oh ho ho ho ho!" Eggman laughed evilly as he watched Sonic try to get past Tails without hurting him, even as the latter was now stronger in strength as well and the blue hedgehog was forced to dodge the punches and kicks.

"Tails, no!" Sonic cried out, dodge-rolling out of the way to avoid in getting hit by the two-tailed fox's punch.

"Oh, this turned out MUCH better than I could have hoped, and I only used a small prototype!" The evil man continued.

'_Small prototype? SMALL!? You call killing those innocent, cute and friendly aliens and using all of their life energy small prototype!?_' Sonic thought angrily, while aloud he hissed while attempting to contain just how furious he was. "Enjoy it while you can!"

That obnoxious, twisted evil grin grew on Eggman's face. "Oh, I will. In fact, the only way to make this better would be to have you two fight!"

"NO! I'll never fight my best friend! I'd never hurt him, even in a million years!" The blue hedgehog, before being forced to jump back as Tails' hand curled into a fist and he attempted to punch him but missed. Sonic could only take a couple steps back when he realized he couldn't get to Eggman without hurting his little brother, something that made him extremely nauseous.

"You don't have a choice, Sonic! He belongs to me now!"

If looks could kill, Eggman would've been scrambled eggs by at that moment as Sonic gave the evil scientist a death glare. He was then forced to turn his attention to the possessed Tails and instantly his expression turned from fury to devastation and plead, hoping against hope to try and get him to return to normal even if it was futile.

"Come on, Tails! Snap out of it! You don't want to do this!" Sonic pleaded, side-stepping quickly to avoid the punches and tail swishes. "Tails, please! It's me, Sonic! You gotta wake up!"

He tried to look for his best friend's soul within the once blue eyes, and for a moment Sonic thought he did; Tails was trapped within the shell that divided them from each other and no matter how hard they tried, his little brother's spirit couldn't break free, and his words couldn't break the barrier.

"I don't want to hurt you, li'l bro! I can't lose you, too!" Sonic begged, tears beggining to leak as he was forced to dodge again. "Please, Tails! Come back to me! I LOVE YOU!"

Sonic felt his heart sink and break when his words still failed to get through, and without the heart to dodge anymore, he stood there and waited while gazing a furious glare at Eggman who's twisted, evil and ugly grin grew. However, just as Tails was about to punch the hedgehog, the purple brain-washing energy suddenly died out and as Sonic snapped his attention back to his little brother, his heart skipped a beat as he saw the eight year old kit's eyes flicker and return to their sweet, beautiful blue state.

Just as Tails lost consciousness there and then, he began to fall forward. The blue hedgehoge gasped softly before catching his friend in his arms and held him close, backing away a couple of steps from Eggman who's eyes widened in shock and his expression quickly turning to disbelief and anger.

"Tails, buddy!? Are you alright?" Sonic asked frantically, holding his best friend tightly to his chest.

A soft moan filled his ears, and as Tails opened his eyes, the blue hedgehog felt sheer relief as he saw that the two-tailed fox's eyes had indeed returned to normal, and his expression was back to it's sweet natured self that belonged to the eight year old.

"Huh? Where am I?" Tails muttered tiredly, seemingly having no memory of being mind-controlled and was shaking off the effects of the energy. "Why is my nose hair tingling...?"

'_He's back...Oh, Light Gaia, he's okay!_' Sonic thought in sheer overwhelming relief and happiness, smiling happily as tears threatened to fall. The blue hedgehog hugged his little brother tightly, closing his eyes. He tried not to cry, and instead focused on comforting his best friend.

"It's okay, it's okay. It's alright, Tails. I got ya'. You'll be okay, I promise." He whispered, though he failed to hide the tears in his voice which cracked slightly.

"S-Sonic? What happened?" The two-tailed fox asked, blinking as he began to recover, noticing he is in his best friend's arms. His eyes then widened as he remembered almost instantly that he pushed Sonic out of the way from the laser beam. "Are you okay? What happened to me?"

"I'm okay, thanks to you. Oh, Tails. I'm so sorry. You got hit because of me. I'm so very sorry, li'l bro." Sonic briefly explained, and apologized deeply.

He would've explained if his and Tails' moment wasn't interrupted by Eggman's angry tantrum, which caused Sonic and his best friend to glare up at their enemy's direction.

"LOUSY CHEAP ALIEN ENERGY!" Eggman yelled angrily, pounding his fists onto the dashboard which was seconds from being smashed(how he hasn't broken his own devices with a tantrum like that yet is a mystery), but as he leaned back and looked above him, he saw that the tubes were now completely empty. Sucked bone dry, in fact.

"Ran out of juice!" He realized, annoyed. He then pushed that aside and sat up again, leaning forward as he declared. "Well, I'll get more. Lot's more! And then I won't control one little punk, but the whole universe!"

"You won't be controlling anyone else, Eggman!" Sonic growled angrily.

Tails' eyes widened as he quickly caught on what happened, and he turned to his older brother in horror. "I was being mind-controlled!?"

"'Fraid so, little buddy." Sonic replied gravely, turning to face him as he tried to mask the guilt of his complete failure to save the aliens. "Even worse, all of that energy's gonna be used to brain-wash everybody if I don't save the aliens on time. I don't know how many are already dead, but he...he's already killed them! He's killing the aliens and some are already gone!"

"Oh no...!" The young fox covered his mouth in horror. "The poor Wisps...!"

That got Eggman's attention as for once he was completely oblivious on what Sonic was talking about, and raised an eyebow, asking in confusion. "Who's killing them?"

'_You've gotta be kidding me. You're trying to lie about your cruel ways of killing life?_' Sonic thought to himself angrily, as he gazed at Eggman with a glare in his eyes, and replied dryly with a hint of sarcasm, not realizing that his enemy was indeed completely clueless. "You?"

"WHAT!?" Eggman exclaimed, infuriated at the accusation. "I'm not killing the aliens! That is baseless slander!"

"LIAR!" Sonic shouted furiously, pointing angrily at the evil man. "YOU'RE DRAINING THEM OF THEIR LIFE ENERGY! I don't know how many you had for that machine that brain-washed Tails, but they're dead, BECAUSE OF YOU! YOU KILLED THEM, YOU MONSTER!"

"BEING DRAINED FROM THEIR HYPER-GO-ON DOES NOT KILL THEM, BRAT! IT TURNS THEM-!" Eggman sneered, only to cut himself off as a sudden realization formed in his mind, one that he almost blurted out to Sonic and Tails.

Of course. His two enemies had no full clue of how powerful the Wisps are, or what they were capable of. Or even the fate of being drained from their Hyper-Go-Ons, which was not, as Sonic believes, death. This could work to his advantage, or at least play with the blue hedgehog's emotions a little. Nothing else entertained Eggman more than the young hero having an emotional breakdown.

"Turns them into what?" Sonic demanded, unaware that Eggman had really told the truth this time, and now was about to face lies against him.

Eggman chuckled with a smirk, and then said calmly, regaining his composure. "I was about to say it, but there's no need since you have seen through it. So the aliens have perished because of their powers being drained, but who cares?"

"You only say that because you don't care about anyone but yourself!" The blue hedgehog yelled, and while he suddenly caught hint of another lie in there somewhere, the fact that he believed that Eggman had admitted the truth a lot quicker than he thought pretty much confirmed his beliefs. "And unlike you, my friends and I deeply care about the aliens and you're using them as mind-controlling energy until they have nothing left in them and can't survive!"

Tails could only glare angrily at Eggman and while he too suddenly caught a hint of a lie in the evil man's voice, he was horrified that Sonic had been right all along...and he felt incredibly guilty for doubting him and had been briefly brain-washed against his best friend/big brother. That made his heart break as tears began to form in his eyes. How was he going to break the news to Yacker that some of his friends were gone?

'_Poor Yacker, and those poor Wisps. It's not fair...!_' Tails thought to himself. Aloud, he shouted, "Sonic's right! How could you be so mean and horrible, Eggman!? I half-thought you really changed, but now I see that you're just as evil as you always had been!"

"Cry me a river." Eggman sneered, and decided that it was time to take his leave. "In the meantime, enjoy the park. I'll leave you your own private tour!"

"Coward...!" Sonic hissed as he and Tails could only watch the fat man fly off, just as the duo heard rumbling behind them. As the best friends spun around to see what kind of private tour guide their enemy was talking about, the answer came to them.

It was a giant war ship of sorts with two orca-whale shaped parts on top of it, glowing in multiple colours from the Starlight Carnival. It was called the S01 Frigate, or Frigate Orca. Either way, it looked like a double-whale monster, but the blue hedgehog knew that it was definitely a giant killer robot connected to this generator, which brought him back to the main reason why he came here in the first place.

He may have failed to save all of the aliens, and the unbearable guilt for the deaths of those who Eggman had already killed and sucked dry from their Hyper-Go-Ons for his brain-washing energy, Sonic refused to give into that failure, knowing that he can at least still save as many Wisps as he can and put a stop to the evil man's plot which was now fully revealed. He mentally took a deep breath to calm down, knowing that he had to focus. Plus he'd already broken down in front of Tails and felt humiliated by it.

He couldn't afford to do it again. Not now.

"Heh, pay up, Tails." Sonic smirked as he turned to his little brother. "I told you he had an evil plot and coming here was a good idea. There it is, straight from the horse's mouth!"

Tails looked at him in confusion, as he scratched the top of his head while pointing out. "Uh...We didn't bet."

An awkward pause.

"Dang." Sonic slumped, sulking. Head still low in disappointment, he slowly walked away towards the giant killer robot while giving his best friend a sad wave behind him. The eight year old fox, confused and feeling sorry for the blue hedgehog, just waved back as he watched his best friend approach his robotic opponent.

* * *

Leaping off the main platform as the giant Whale shaped robot was flying away, and somehow backwards, Sonic was lucky enough to land on another purple path and followed it as he chased after the Frigate Orca even though it was hovering away from him.

"What're you running away from? Don't tell me Egghead's programed you to be a chicken like him, and you're supposed to be a giant whale!" The blue hedgehog taunted as he ran after it.

Apparently it didn't seem to like what he said, or maybe it had been waiting for an opening. Whatever it was, the Frigate Orca began firing bullets right at him. Luckily for Sonic that he can easily dodge these attacks, which is what he did. He ran from side to side without falling off of the path as he knew that, from this height as he and the giant robotic killer whale quickly getting further and further away from the safety of anything, if he fell off, it's game over.

"Seriously? That's the best you can do? The killer Ferris Wheel was a little bit faster than this and that's saying something!" Sonic laughed as he got closer and closer to the giant flying robot until he was underneath it and almost immediately spotted one of the weak spots: the neon lights of the guns that would be weak against his attacks. He jumped up to avoid another shot before curling up tightly into a ball, sharping his quills and spin dashed repeatedly into one of the machine guns.

As he did, pieces of the ship came away and hurling into space, floating away while Sonic seized his attack and continued running towards it to come up with the next way to fight it. The giant robot whale in the meantime tilted to the right while briefly losing altitude. It ended up dropping some large cargo into his direction and the blue hedgehog had to jump and run side to side to avoid in getting hit as well as dodging more shots that his opponent tried to hit him with but failed due to it's current position.

"Whoa!" He yelped as one of the red boxes came too close to his liking. "That was a close one."

Sonic then quickly focused on his target again and once he was close enough, he homed in on one of the lights near the gun and attacked it with his spin dash as well as karate kicks, yelling out battle cries as he went. Once he was done and leaped back onto the path quickly, the Frigate Orca lost two larger pieces of debries and part of the robot began to burst into flames. As it did, a capsule flew out and cracked it open upon falling out, three familiar cyan Wisps emerged and flew beside him.

"Hello there." He greeted with a smile as the aliens beamed at him happily, two deciding to leave and the third one deciding to stay, which upon seeing them gave Sonic a terrible reminder that, while he was successful in saving these little guys right now, the same couldn't be said for the poor Wisps that Eggman had sucked dry of their power and caused them to die as a result. Trying to forget that at the moment, he asked the Wisps, "You wanna give this over-sized fish a piece of your mind?"

The Wisp nodded eagerly and as Sonic nodded in approval, he allowed it to enter his body knowing that he could use a little bit of help from it.

"LASER!" He shouted, and as he turned into his laser form, Sonic zipped towards the giant robot and zoomed straight through in a matter of a second, reappearing in front of it and landed back on the path. He smirked as the Frigate Orca burst into flames and falling apart even further while the Wisp came out of him.

"Yeah, alright! We make it look so easy, huh?" The blue hedgehog cheered and remarked to his new friend. But before the alien could reply even as it looked at him happily, they both heard an machine like noise which caused them to look as Sonic spun around and ran backwards to get a better view.

To his and the alien's shock as the blue hedgehog gasped, the whale designs fell off due to the destruction he caused, revealing six orbs that looked like that had faces on them which began to bellow with smoke.

"Uh...then again..." Sonic trailed off as he and the Wisp sweatdropped worriedly, and in the latter's case, growing fear. Despite the craft losing, it still somehow caught up to them as Sonic quickly turned forward once more, and it hovered right above them. He turned to the terrified alien, fearing for it's safety and cried out. "Run! You have to get outta here, now!"

"#%$% !?" The cyan Wisp exclaimed in shock, and he could tell that it didn't like the idea of leaving him behind.

"Don't worry about me! I'm more worried about your safety, and the safety of all of your friends! Go!" The blue hedgehog instructed urgently, leaving no room in his tone for an argument, and felt bad for being a little bit harsh. He'll have to make up to it later.

Even though it couldn't help but worry about it's hero, the cute alien hesitantly nodded before flying away from underneath, and as Sonic watched it fly off to safety and wishing it to be careful and not get caught again, he turned his attention to the large robot now right above him. It opened up underneath and began discarding and dropping more debries, and spikes which forced the blue hedgehog to jump, run and weave out of the way to avoid in getting hit.

"It'll take more than dropping stuff to scare me, Flying-Row-Boat!" Sonic taunted again with a smirk. He then snickered, "Or should I say, 'Flying-Row-Bot'? Get it? Row-Bot?"

The Frigate Orca didn't like that either, as it dropped more cargo and attempted to fire at the teenage hedgehog who continued to dodge it's attacks and cracked open another capsule it happened to drop and an orange Wisp flew out. Having an idea even though he really didn't want to do this, he allowed it enter his body to allow him to burrow it's power in appreciation. With the power of rocket, the young hero shot up into the 'Whale's stomach' and emerged from the top of it, and as soon as he returned to normal, Sonic landed safely back onto the path and was thankful that it didn't disappear on him.

"Thanks, pal!" Sonic thanked the Wisp after it emerged from him while the blue hedgehog ran once more. He gave it a two-finger salute and it returned it with a salute of it's own, which made him smile at how cute the orange alien looked when it did that. The teenager watched it leave with a wave of goodbye before turning his attention back to the Frigate Orca, and even though it was severely damaged, it was still burning strong-not including the fact that it was in fact on fire right now.

"Man, and I thought the real Orca was determined to get rid of me!" He grumbled in exasperation, then shuddered a bit. "But at least you're not trying to eat-"

He yelped as the weakened giant robot fired once more and he had to stumble out of the way while exclaiming, "-MEEEEAAAAH!"

Unfortunately, the force of it was strong enough to cause Sonic to be catapulted off the road and to his horror he was falling down into the darkness of space, doomed to forever be lost, floating.

"_AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!_" Sonic screamed as he fell further and further away from the battle that he couldn't believe that he just lost to. He'd been so close, and yet he finally had been defeated. "_NOOOOOOO!_"

Fortunately, however, just like many times before today when the blue hedgehog thought he was done for, help came to him at the right time. A flash of green filled his vision above him and when Sonic looked up, he saw something glow in the aforementioned colour and like back at Sweet Mountain, he saw the silhouette of the familiar pixie, or at least the hallucination of him, flying towards him in his time of need.

"_You can do it, Sonic! It'll be alright._"

"Chip?" Sonic whispered, and even though the vision ended, the green flash did not, and in desperation, he screamed out. "HELP!"

Help did come, and really unexpected as well. The light absorbed itself right into his chest, catching Sonic off-guard and instantly he recognized the power. Knowing what he had to do, he exclaimed the one word in his time of need.

"HOVER!"

Glowing in green himself once more, Sonic flew up as quickly as he could back towards the path and at the giant killer robot who was close to malfunctioning and slowing down, seemingly thinking that the blue hedgehog was lost. Wasting no time as he hovered over it, he spun into a ball and attacked it quickly at the weak spots once more, catching it off-guard. With a final yell, Sonic hit home and finally knocked off it's flight path. As he landed back onto the path safely and ran once more, the green light which he had already realized was a green Wisp he couldn't remember saving during this battle emerged from his body and flew around and beside him.

Sonic glanced at it quickly before he and his savior watched the Frigate Orca fall and crash, exploding in it's final defeat, groaning before falling into the deep space, doomed to be lost. Unlike the blue hedgehog, nothing was going to save it.

"Phew...That's cutting it close." Sonic remarked, and turned to thank the green alien when he saw that there was something oddly familiar about it. It was really bubbly and squealing happily, apparently very proud with itself and relieved to have save his life.

It was when the Wisp beamed happily at him that he realized with wide eyes in surprise. "Hey...You're the first green alien I saved."

The green Wisp nodded happily, and the blue hedgehog smiled in surprise and amazment.

"You were following me all the way out here to help me?" He asked, and his friend nodded again, giggling in it's language while hovering around him. Sonic chuckled. "Wow. Thank you! If you hadn't shown up, I'd be lost forever."

His savior gave him a bashful expression with a blush and contently landed on his head which made him laugh as he now made the dash to return to Tails, more than happy to allow his little green friend to enjoy the ride. As he did, though, Sonic couldn't help but think about how dangerously close he'd come in losing his life today, and if the cute alien on his head hadn't been around, it would've been all over. On top of that, this was actually the second time this Wisp had shown him the hallucination of Chip who once again gave him encouraging and comforting words.

'_The Werehog really wants me killed, to give up, or even make me turn to evil. Whereas Chip is telling me not to quit, to keep going, to be who I am now. Why am I seeing these hallucinations anyway? It doesn't make sense._' The blue hedgehog thought to himself, concerned.

"%$ #?" The green Wisp babbled, sounding rather confused as it noticed Sonic's thoughtful and concern. The cobalt hedgehog glanced up at the alien and sheepishly smiled.

"I'm okay. It's just...you remind me a lot of a friend I haven't seen in a while, and..." Sonic sighed, admitting. "I really miss him."

As the alien, feeling sorry for the Mobian, gently patted him on the head, Sonic smiled and added as brightly as he could muster. "But I know that he'll always be with me in my heart. Just like all of my other friends, and that includes you and the other aliens I saved."

Maybe that was why Chip was showing up in hallucinations. Sonic thought that maybe it was just to remind him that even if they will never see each other again, they will never forget each other. But that still leaves one problem.

Why was the Werehog showing in hallucinations too?

* * *

A little while later, after thanking the first green Wisp he'd saved earlier and saying goodbye as it left to once again fly to it's freedom, Sonic made his way back to the generator just in time to see it shut down, and where Tails was still waiting. Funny enough, he also noticed the chain that was, mysteriously, chained the Starlight Carnival to Tropical Resort, fizzle away.

"Hey, Sonic!" Tails greeted happily, looking and feeling much better than he had been earlier. "Did you give the tour guide a complaint?"

"Oh, I gave it to him pretty good." Sonic replied casually, then noticed the familiar cute curl-headed Wisp and smiled. He greeted with a wave, "'Sup, Yacker?"

Yacker waved back happily and said something in his own language, which made Sonic chuckle, even though his heart ached once again as he then remembered that, despite his best efforts and having had managed to save more aliens...he failed to save those that Eggman had drained.

The blue hedgehog then turned back to his two-tailed best friend and asked, "How are you feeling, li'l buddy?"

"Much better now. Though I don't really remember much between saving you and coming out of what Eggman did." Tails replied.

"I'm really sorry, Tails." Sonic sighed as his expression turned to guilt and sadness. "I should've moved out of the way in time. If I had, you wouldn't have saved me and gone through that."

"It's not your fault." His little brother replied with a sad smile. "I'm sorry for doubting you about Eggman, and about this place being evil. Next time, I'll know better."

"Hey, don't worry 'bout it, bro. You still handled it better than I did." The blue hedgehog said reassuringly, and gently ruffled the top of the cute fox's head, making his best friend let out an adorable giggle. The two smiled before Sonic lowered his hand and asked while gesturing at Yacket, "So, did you get anymore info out of him?"

"It wasn't easy, but yeah." Tails nodded.

Sonic sighed, scratching the back of his head. "Well, we know Eggman is going to use the energy he's stealing for a mind control weapon."

'_Not to mention killing the aliens while he's at it._' He added to himself, not yet finding the heart to break the tragic news to Yacker...that the poor cute Wisp had just lost some of his friends by the cruel hands of the evil doctor. The blue hedgehog had a feeling that Tails hadn't told him yet, either.

"Learned that one the hard way." Tails replied sheepishly, while Yacker looked on back and forth between the two adoptive brothers as he didn't understand much of what happened but was eager to listen. Though seeing and sensing the sadness, as well as the guilt in their eyes, especially in Sonic's emerald ones, that something more horrible happened.

"Do we know how Eggman's getting all these aliens?" The blue hedgehog asked, trying hard not to look at Yacker and break the news just yet. He didn't want another emotional breakdown so soon.

"Yeah, yeah!" The eight year old fox nodded, then explained a bit awkwardly. "At first I thought Yacker was talking about how Baldy Nosehair was using burps to do it."

Sonic quirked an eyebrow with a sweatdrop, as he muttered. "Hmmm, he is pretty gassy. Maybe the smell will knock 'em out? I dunno, something doesn't seem right with that."

"That's what I said! It made no sense." Tails agreed with a shudder, then continued. "Then, I made a tiny adjustment and I realized he was saying 'generators'."

"So, no burps? That's a relief." The fifteen year old hedgehog sighed.

"Tell me about it." The two-tailed fox groaned in agreement. "So anyway, Eggman is using tractor beam generators to hold their planet into orbit while he scoops the aliens up..."

"WHAAAAT!?" Sonic exclaimed in shock and horror, unable to believe it, and making both Tails and Yacker jump a bit in fright by his out burst. "Hold a whole planet!? No way!"

"Well, it's a tiny planet, but still...yeah." Tails answered with a sweatdrop.

'_No wonder he's managed to capture so many! That's taking away an entire world's freedom and he's been trying to do that to Mobius for years. I should've stopped him when I had the chance...! It's because of me that Yacker and his kind are trapped in this situation...Why didn't I find out sooner?_' Sonic thought to himself in guilt and anger, clutching his fist to try and stop it from shaking.

Even worse...it must have happened not long after Dark Gaia had sent Eggman flying. Two months was still enough time to have the evil doctor come up with something like this. And now...a few or even so many Wisps had died already.

"Okay, fine." The blue hedgehog sighed, now even more determined to set things right, as well as atone for failing to rescue the aliens and avenge for them and the aliens that were still alive. He then did a mental count and realized that he's already one step ahead of what was happening. "Five generators? Well, I've already leveled two."

Tails nodded in agreement, "So if my math is correct, that leaves us three more of those bad boys to take out."

Sonic shrugged with a small smile. "Nobody said there'd be simple math, but I'm with you buddy!"

"We should get going." His best friend responded, gazing at Yacker with both worry and a hint of guilt in his eyes, but not as much as Sonic felt in his heart. "Yacker says the Wisps don't have much time."

'If only I had enough time to rescue the aliens Eggman had already killed.' Sonic thought in guilt. Masking it with determination, he declared optimistically. "Once I start moving, I don't need much time!"

With that thought in mind, the blue hedgehog dashed off to head back to the Egg Shuttle, knowing where he had to go next. To the world of Wisps where all of the aliens' lives were in grave danger...and some had already been lost. As Sonic raced towards the ride, the unbearable guilt rose as he tried hard not to think about how the poor aliens that he did manage to save were going to react once they found out that they had lost so many friends in such a short time, and he couldn't save them.

'_Oh, Yacker...I'm sorry. I'm so sorry I couldn't save all of them like I promised. I let you down...it's all my fault!_' Sonic thought, and began to softly cry as he ran, tears falling freely and being left behind.

If there was one thing he could still do, was that he could at least save as many as he can, and keep them out of Eggman's clutches, as well as stop the evil doctor from taking over Mobius with his mind-controlling machine as Sonic knew that it was the ultimate goal in taking over the world. A plot that the blue hedgehog vowed to foil once and for all.

He would make sure, and this time, he will not fail.

* * *

Meanwhile, somewhere in his lab in the main area of the park, Eggman was seated at his hover chair in front of a control panel, while the screen in front of him, Decoe, Becoe and Bokkun was showing a computer system showing off a large generator towers of sorts filling up with energy, while Cubot stood by Eggman's left. Despite the failure of turning Sonic into his puppet, and the failure in keeping Tails under his control, the evil doctor was in good spirits.

"Everything is in good health, doctor. It's still in the progress of absorbing the energy, but it's making progress." Decoe reported.

"Excellent." Eggman praised evilly, and then laughed evilly. "Oh ho ho ho ho! Soon the mind control weapon will be full of energy I've siponed from the aliens, and Mobius will be the center of my interplanetary amusement park!"

"Is it true that Sonic thinks that stealing the aliens' energy is killing them?" Becoe asked, curiously as he and the other robots had heard what had happened.

Eggman smirked cruelly. "Indeed. He doesn't even realize that the fate of those aliens isn't death. I would have told him the truth, but when he accused me for lying as I had no idea what he was talking about, I decided to continue to let him believe as such. After all, Sonic blames himself for whenever something happens to other the world or those who have been hurt or perished. Messing with his mind and emotions will certainly give him an innor turmoil."

"Like he had that turmoil with that copy-hog and how you used the Chaos Emeralds to split the world apart? Sonic still managed to get over that when you found out the truth." Bokkun asked, skeptically.

"And what about the time when we all thought Shadow died after he and Sonic saved the world from the ARK falling into the planet?" Decoe added.

The evil man actually flinched at Decoe's words and growled, "You had to remind ME of that, didn't you? That and what Black Doom had done had changed my views with I saw in my grandfather!"

In truth, and he didn't admit to anyone, he was still in shock and felt some betrayal from his late grandfather, who, under the trauma and devastation of Maria's death, the loss of his granddaughter and Eggman's late cousin had driven Professor Gerald Robotnik into insanity not long after Shadow had been created. But he kept it buried within himself to focus on his life-long dream to rule Mobius, no many how many times Sonic had defeated him.

"...Sorry, sir." Decoe squeaked in fear, after flinching at Eggman's growl.

"Way to go, Decoe." Bokkun congratulated sarcastically.

"Y'all reckon you'll be able to git yerself 'nuff o' that energy to take over the whole dang planet?" Cubot asked, completely oblivious and clueless as usual.

"Yes. I 'reckon' I will." Eggman hissed darkly, sick and tired of the cowboy accent. "Where is your new voice chip!?"

As if on cue, Orbot came through the doors with a small chip in his robotic hand, announcing as he had heard the man's angry demand from the other side just as he arrived. "Got it right here, sir! I just need to install it."

The red robot then fiddled with his companion's compartment and fiddled with Cubot's back, while, unfortunately to everyone else in the room, began singing terribly to himself. "_~The Think bone's connected to the talk bone, the talk bone's connected to the mouth's bone~_"

"Oh, please, Orbot! Don't sing!" Decoe cried out in dismay, covering his non-existent ears, as did Becoe and Bokkun who also complained.

"It's already bad enough to hear that awful music in Starlight Carnival in the first week of it's operation!" Becoe whined.

"I wouldn't call it music. It was just ear-killing noise." Bokkun deadpanned.

"I'll make a note to change the robotic musicians." Eggman grumbled underneath breath, as he too hated the awful noise and as he had seen through the security and spying on Sonic, and his other two friends who he hadn't expected either, Knuckles and Rouge, the evil man was kind of glad that those three animals, well, at least both the hedgehog and the echidna, had stopped the noise.

After a few more minutes, Orbot closed the compartment and announced proudly, and waited for the results as he hovered away from Cubot. "There! Good as new!"

"Finally." Eggman sighed, exasperated and relieved. "I don't think anything could be more annoying than that robot chatter."

"We agree, Doctor Eggman." Decoe, Becoe and Bokkun chorused...

"YAR!" Cubot suddenly hollored, now sounding like a pirate.

"AAAAH!" Eggman and the other three robots yelped in fright, causing the only human in the room to literally jump and fall out of his chair and crash into the floor with a thud, and Decoe, Becoe and Bokkun to fly up and get half-way stuck into the ceiling. While Eggman sat up in disbelief, the three robots fell and crashed onto each other in a pile, before staring at Cubot in shock.

"Feelin' ship-shaped with the new voice chip, I am!" Cubot announced, looking more fierce than ever before. "Ah, beggin' pardon squire, but me and my maties are going to sail off an' search for that lubber Sonic! ARR!"

With that, the yellow cubed robot saluted before flying out of the room, leaving everyone else to stare at his retreating form with bewildered expressions, while Eggman returned to his seat in sheer annoyance.

"You stand corrected, doctor." Bokkun stated after an awkward moment of silence, which had been filled with crickets chirping in the background.

"...I think that's the wrong chip." Orbot said sheepishly.

"Really? Are you sure he doesn't normally speak in pirate?" Eggman sneered sarcastically.

"On the bright side, at least he's more exotic now!" Becoe tried to lighten the mood.

"YOU THREE JUST CHECK THE CARGO HOLD!" Eggman bellowed to Becoe, Decoe and Bokkun who all jumped and screamed in fright, before he turned to Orbot and added as he leaped out his chair furiously. "AND YOU! JUST GO FIND HIM AND FIX THAT CHIP!"

All four robots scrambled outta there to carry out the orders and to avoid the wrath of their creator who panted in an attempt to calm down. After a few moments, he collected himself and turned back to the monitor.

"Shortly, I will have no need for those idiots." Eggman muttered to himself while stroking his mustache. "In less than 48 hours, Mobius will be under _**my**_ control...when it is, it will be the crown jewel of my amusement park. The GREATEST amusement park in the universe!"

He then threw his head back and laughed manically...

_**CRACK!**_

Only to stop when there was a sickening crack in his body and Eggman held his stomach as he groaned in agony. "Ouch!" He then winced in a bit of a high-pitched and pained tone. "I think I gloated so hard, I pulled a muscle."

If there had been anyone else in the room and weren't his enemy, they'd actually sympathize with him for that...

_Maybe._

* * *

**A/N: Okay, so I couldn't fit the beginning of the Wisp's Homeworld in this chapter either, sorry. But at least it will begin in the next one. I want to again thank gregorian 12 for the idea of how Sonic accused Eggman for what is happening to the Wisps, while keeping part of my original idea of the real truth for the next chapter instead. At least part of it.**

**See you later!**


	8. Chapter 8: Home of the Wisps

**Author's Note: Finally reached the world I've been wanting to write for ages; The Wisp Planet!**

**I do not own Sonic The Hedgehog. All rights belong to Sega.**

* * *

_Chapter 8: Home of the Wisps._

He couldn't stop shaking. At least mentally, or even just a little bit on the outside, Sonic wasn't sure. No matter how hard he tried to assure himself that he still has a chance to set things right by saving as many Wisps as he can and free their world, the unspeakable guilt and Eggman's actions were still fresh on his mind. As the blue hedgehog had made it back to the station, his mind whirled back to what happened at the generator.

The revelation of how Eggman was sucking up the aliens' life force and configuring their Hyper-Go-On energy into a mind control energy for his machines, and that said corrupted energy that was originally intended on taking over Sonic's mind and body, but had taken over Tails even temporary when his best friend saved him. The deaths of the Wisps, and almost losing his little brother, and having come to learn that the alien's home planet was being held hostage like a storage for the evil scientist to kidnap and kill the gentle species for their powers...

"How could I have messed up so badly like this?" The cobalt hedgehog whispered, gazing at his hands as though hoping the answer would come to him. He hadn't stopped crying even just silently on his way here, and tried to calm down, but it was futile. "I should've kept a better eye on him..."

He had been thinking so hard that he didn't even realize that someone was behind him, until Sonic felt someone, or something, touch his arm. Snapping his eyes open with a soft gasp of fear...he panicked.

"AAAAHHH!" The blue hedgehog screamed, spinning around and jumped back a bit while yanking his arm away, only to see that it was just Knuckles who, along with Tails and Yacker, had just arrived.

"AAHH!" Knuckles screamed in fright by the unexpected outburst, stumbling backwards and falling onto his back.

"AAAAAAHH!" Tails screamed as he too stumbled back a little, and accidentally bumped into the red echidna, and ended up using his friend as a cushion. Even Yacker freaked out with a squeal of fright in his language.

Blinking as he quickly realized that he hadn't heard his friends due to being too far into his mind, Sonic placed a hand to his chest as he tried to will his rapidly beating heart to settle, panting as he went.

"Guys!" Sonic softly exclaimed, and after realizing that he had been caught again, not only felt completely embarrassed, but also felt bad for scaring them for screaming like that. He smiled sheepishly, "Sorry. Didn't mean to scare you."

"It's okay. None of us even realized you were thinking so hard like that." Tails replied, sweatdropping as he still felt a bit shaken, but was calming down. Yacker hovered over to Sonic cautiously with a bit of a scared and very worried look.

The blue hedgehog noticed this and felt even worse, because he apologized in guilt and held up his hands carefully. "Yacker, I'm really sorry. Please don't be scared, okay? I was just startled."

"Just startled?" Knuckles grunted in disbelief, before asking the two-tailed fox that was currently sitting on him. "And Tails? Would you get off me please? I'm not a pillow."

"Oh! Uh, sorry, Knuckles!" Tails sheepishly replied, standing up and rubbed the back of his head apologetically.

While Sonic felt terrible for scaring his best friend and new alien friend, and while he felt bad for scaring Knuckles, he gave him a sarcastic look for not making his appearance announced. "Thanks a lot, Knucklehead."

"Hey, what'd I do?" The Master Emerald Guardian pouted, standing up with an annoyed glare.

"You nearly gave me a heart attack instead of just saying that you were here!" The hero of Mobius answered in annoyance himself.

Knuckles raised an eyebrow suspiciously. "I've never known you to be this jumpy, Sonic. Since when did you get like this? If you're reacting as such, you would've screamed even if I did say something."

"I wasn't jumpy! I was distracted in trying to figure out how to stop Eggman, and since you met up with Tails and Yacker, they probably told you about Egghead's mind control machine already." Sonic argued.

"Then why did you look like you were fighting with yourself?"

"Because this is all my fault, and the only way for me to make it up for it is to save the aliens before it's too late!" He replied, trying to ignore the slightly skeptical and confused expressions on Tails and Yacker who looked at each other worriedly.

"Doesn't look like it was just you blaming yourself to me." The red echidna argued, leaning forward as he wanted more answers.

"Oh yeah!? What are YOU supposed to be, a psychic!?" The blue hedgehog yelled back in irritation as he leaned forward as well directly at his friend's face.

"You ever heard of reading people's expressions!?" Knuckles shouted.

"I do that all the time and for your information, I also listen to the tones in people's voices!"

"So do I!"

"Well, then how come you always end up believing Egghead's lies!?"

"HE DIDN'T TRICK ME THIS TIME, OKAY!?"

"Okay, I'll give you that much, but that's not the point!"

"Then what IS!?"

"Look, can't a guy have a bad day!? I'm already stressed enough as it is, with our resident evil scientist mind-controlling Tails because I was stupid enough to turn around and almost got mind-controlled myself, and on top of that, Yacker's already lost some of his friends and I was too late to save them!"

That got Knuckles' and even Yacker's attention as the former leaned back in shock, growing anger and no small amount of horror when he heard this. "Eggman did what!?"

Realizing too late what he just blurted out, Sonic gasped as he had just revealed the terrible news without even being fully ready to tell Yacker, or without even knowing that Tails didn't tell Knuckles about how the two-tailed fox had risked his life to save his own. Quickly turning to the curl-headed Wisp who's eye was wide when he heard of the blue hedgehog unable to save some of his friends, even though there was a hint of confusion and realization in his expression.

Guilt renewed and growing rapidly, his anger fading away instantly, Sonic tried not to cry again, even as Tails looked just as guilt ridden due to still not revealing the news either.

"Y-Yacker, I-" The blue hedgehog cut himself off, finding himself unable to look at the cute little alien, but forced himself to, and continued, his voice choked in developing tears. "I'm so sorry...! I tried. I really did. I did my best to save as many as I could, but I wasn't quick enough, and I'm the fastest thing alive. Eggman's already...he's...he used up all of the energy from your friends that I haven't saved yet and...now they're gone..."

Struggling to hold back his guilt, Sonic turned around as he had no where to run, or to avoid his friends seeing him like this. "It's all my fault...I couldn't save them...Please, forgive me...Please. I can still...I can still save the rest as I can, and your world...I just wish I could save the aliens that Eggman had killed...!"

"Sonic..." Tails whispered, tears forming in his eyes as he tried not to cry. He knew that it wasn't his big brother's fault, but the two-tailed fox knew that the blue hedgehog really had taken this burden heavily on his shoulders. Yacker on the other hand, his little heart breaking due to Sonic blaming himself for something that was beyond even his control, flew over and floated in front of him, babbling in his language which had Sonic to glance up at him.

"Huh?" The blue hedgehog muttered.

"What did he say?" Knuckles asked, having no clue on what the Wisp was saying. Tails pulled out his translator and attempted to understand.

"Um, he's saying that it's not Sonic's fault and that...the Wisps are eating Hay?" The two-tailed fox tried to translate, only to raise a confused eyebrow while Sonic, Knuckles and Yacker all now held dumbfounded expressions.

"Wha...? Eating Hay? That doesn't make sense." Knuckles pointed out, before asking in confusion about what else Tails said. "And did you just say 'Lisps?'"

"No, it's Wisps. With a W." Tails replied.

"Now you can see I sticked with calling them aliens." Sonic whispered to Knuckles.

"...I can see that." The red echidna whispered back.

"And why am I thinking that it's supposed to translate that the aliens are okay even though I don't get why Yacker's said that?" Sonic asked Tails, a bit skeptically, unaware that Yacker looked at him in surprise that the blue hedgehog somehow understood the last part better.

"That's because he did say that." The eight year old kit sheepishly answered, after trying again, before adding. "And he's right, Sonic. It's not your fault that Eggman's just as horrible or that all of this happened. None of us knew."

"Yeah, well, it's times like this I wish _I_ was a psychic." The blue hedgehog sighed, scratching the back of his head. "Not to mention that I feel horrible for not being able to save the other aliens that o'l Baldy Nosehair used for-"

"Ha ha ha ha ha!" Knuckles cut Sonic off through hysterical laughter over the new nick-name, holding his stomach while leaking tears. "B-Baldy Nosehair!? Who came up with that? It suits him better than Eggman!"

"Yacker and the aliens did...Ha ha ha ha ha! Sounds awesome, doesn't it?" Sonic couldn't help but laugh as well, as did Tails and even Yacker who giggled.

"Remind me to call him that in front of his face from now on!" Knuckles wheezed.

Sonic nodded, "I planned on doing that, but I didn't get the chance to yet. Next time I see him, I'll say it, cause I wanna see the look on that ugly mug of his when he hears that. Anyway, I feel bad for not being able to save the aliens he used for that brain-washing machine which thankfully didn't last long, but still..."

He sighed, gazing at the ground. "If only I came sooner, then they wouldn't have...they wouldn't have died."

Yacker held a sad expression and patted Sonic on the head while babbling something in Wisp language again. As Sonic looked up at the adorable little alien, Tails translated what he was saying, and when he read it, his eyes widened in sheer surprise.

"Huh? But how?" The young fox glanced at Yacker in disbelief, catching Sonic and Kunckles' attention.

"What'd he say, buddy?" Sonic asked.

"Yacker says that, while having their Hyper-Go-Ons drained is a horrible thing, um, either it's it doesn't mean they die, or it's they usually sing and cry." He answered.

"Say what?" The blue hedgehog gasped in shock, unable to believe what he was hearing and while he wondered if Yacker was just trying to be optimistic, suddenly the heavy weight of guilt and failure was lifted slightly from his shoulders and heart. He turned to the Wisp and asked. "But, if that's true, uh, you know, the 'they don't die' part, then then happened to the ones I didn't save?"

Yacker shrugged and waved his right arm to the sky, then his other arm in the other and then flapped them like a bird.

"He says that he doesn't know what does happen, except that...'_Mama once told us that they would change into something out of...our control_', I think?" Tails translated.

"Mama?" Sonic and Knuckles both echoed in confusion.

"As in, Yacker's mom?" Sonic asked, turning to Yacker who nodded. Another realization hit the hedgehog as he softly gasped. "Oh no! Egghead's kidnapped your mom too! I gotta save her!"

"But where could she be? For all we know, she isn't in their home world." Tails pointed out.

"Well, then I guess I'll search everywhere. Knowing Ro-butt-nik, he must've hidden her somewhere secret and I got a feeling that's where he's taken the other aliens too. But first, I gotta free their planet from the Amusement Park and shut down the generator!" The blue hedgehog declared with determination that quickly became firm on his expression.

Sonic then sighed and added, "I'm gonna fix this, and whatever did happen to the aliens got that their energy stolen, I'll find a way to turn them back to normal, and make sure Baldy McNosehair doesn't touch them ever again!"

Tails smiled in relief and nodded, glad that his best friend had gotten his confidence back, and was also relieved that the Wisps that were thought to have died were in fact still alive, just that something else awful happened to them.

"Don't worry, Yacker. I'll save your home, and your family and friends. I promise. I'm sorry for jumping to conclusions when I heard about your powers being your life force." The blue hedgehog vowed, and apologized, shrugging a little sadly. "I guess...I was so scared of what could've happened, I just kind of figured that it was directly linked. Not that turning into something you can't control is a good thing, but still..."

Yacker looked emotional and gave the teenager a hug, catching him slightly off-guard and rubbed his head against his peach chest, mumbling in a tone of sadness and...what Sonic caught on was guilt.

"Yacker says that he never blamed you, and thinks that it's his fault because he couldn't save his friends like he promised his Mama...and I think he also said that did her best to protect them and that he promised to look after them if anything more horrible happened to her." Tails explained as he translated, his heart breaking, as did the hearts of Knuckles and especially Sonic who gazed at the alien in his chest.

"Is it true she did that? And you mean that it's not my fault?" The blue hedgehog whispered, and the little Wisp nodded in sadness. Feeling bad for what has happened and seeing his new friend in this state now broke his heart, causing Sonic to hug him emotionally and to give him comfort. "Oh, Yacker...! It's gonna be okay."

Tails join in the embrace and hugged both Sonic and Yacker in his attempt to comfort them, while Knuckles watched them and feeling a little bit awkward and out of place. He too felt sorry for the Wisp, and knew that his friends went through a lot in the past nearly 24 hours.

"It's not your fault, little guy. You did the best you could, and I bet your mom would be so proud of you for looking out for the rest of your friends and family. Besides, I don't need a reason to help out a friend." Sonic reassured with a soft but warm smile. "Not only that, we can still save them. Okay?"

"Sonic's right, Yacker. We're all in this together as a team." Tails added with the same smile, which had Yacker moved to tears of happiness and nuzzled himself into his two Mobian friends who laughed at the ticklish sensation.

"Well then, let's get going. The faster we move, the better." Sonic declared, and his two friends cheered in agreement, before he turned to their other friend and asked. "Yo, Knuckles. Wanna come too?"

"No thanks. But I will continue to see if I can find anything useful to help you guys out a little bit." The red echidna declined.

"Thanks, Knux." The blue hedgehog replied as he, Tails and Yacker let go of each other.

"That reminds me, why are you here, Knuckles?" Tails asked, curiously.

Knuckles flinched again, and was about to reply when Sonic snickered with a grin. He knew where this was going. "Simple, li'l bro. He got tricked again."

"I WASN'T TRICKED!" The guardian protested.

"Oh no, and you didn't get that letter that told you to come here either, huh?" The hero of Mobius mocked with a grin, which grew as his friend's eyes widened in shock, and not small amount of disbelief and horror at the fact that, as the blue hedgehog predicted, he'd been caught red handed.

"How'd you-!" Knuckles growled.

Sonic laughed, shrugging. "Because the true writer of that letter told me. But hey, at least you can still say that it wasn't Eggman who send it to you, so you were telling the truth on that."

"Huh?" The red echidna blinked, now confused.

"I'll give you two guesses on who really sent it, but you only need one, plus the fact that 'she' did it to get you away from the Master Emerald. I think she's still around here collecting blue rings." The blue hedgehog continued. "Oh, and she's been sent here to investigate the Amusement Park too."

A moment of silence.

"See you later, Knuckles." Sonic waved as he, Tails and Yacker, the young fox realizing what the blue hedgehog was talking about, waved with a sympathized smile, and the little Wisp being clueless about this, entered the Egg Shuttle with the doors closing behind them.

While the Egg Shuttle then flew away towards it's next destination, Knuckles was left to his own devices as he put the pieces of the puzzle together in his mind, and a full realization hit him like a ton of boulders he'd normally carry or smash into pieces. Given Sonic's description, the Guardian of the Master Emerald knew almost instantly who the culprit was. He then growled angrily for being tricked again, and by one of the other two people that really had the nack of doing so to him.

"_ROOOOOOOUUUUUUUGGGGGGE!_" Knuckles screamed at the top of his lungs, his outburst echoing through out not just Starlight Carnival, but also the entire space surrounding the Intersteller Amusement Park. "I'LL GET YOU FOR THIS, YOU BATTY THIEF!"

At the top of the tower that Sonic and some of the rescued Wisps had been earlier, the aforementioned bat, with an arm full of blue rings that used to be blue cubes, winced at how loud Knuckles really was, before sighing in exasperation and annoyance.

"I should've known that blue hedgehog would have told Knuckie that." Rouge sighed to herself.

* * *

About ten minutes after boarding the Egg Shuttle and cruising towards Planet Wisp, which according to the PA, was currently off-limits and still under construction(not to mention, much to their annoyance, deemed not dangerous enough for visitors yet), Sonic, Tails and Yacker were waiting impatiently to reach the latter's home world and eager to not only see what it looked like, but also to rescue the planet itself from Eggman's clutches.

As Sonic gazed out of the window with his arms crossed and one leg of the other, he had been thinking about the situation. Now that he did, he thought back to what Eggman had attempted to saw, and his eyes widened in realization and felt like slapping himself for his stupidity.

* * *

_"BEING DRAINED FROM THEIR HYPER-GO-ON DOES NOT KILL THEM, BRAT! IT TURNS THEM-!" Eggman sneered, only to cut himself off as a sudden realization formed in his mind._

_"Turns them into what?" Sonic demanded, unaware that Eggman had really told the truth this time, and now was about to face lies against him._

_Eggman chuckled with a smirk, and then said calmly, regaining his composure. "I was about to say it, but there's no need since you have seen through it. So the aliens have perished because of their powers being drained, but who cares?"_

* * *

Groaning aloud, Sonic facepalmed himself, "I'm an idiot...!"

"Huh?" Tails muttered, as he turned his attention from fiddling with his Miles Electronic again to what his best friend had meant, and Yacker looked at the blue hedgehog as well.

"He'd been telling the truth about not killing them, and I didn't believe him...!" Sonic continued, more to himself than to his friends. "Then he had the nerve to use my accusation to mess with me! He lied about the aliens dying and making me think he admitted the truth, when it was the complete opposite. He LIED!"

The blue hedgehog smacked himself on the forehead, and chastised himself. "Sonic, you're a moron!"

"Calm down, Sonic! Don't let Eggman get to you!" Tails cried out as he quickly stood from his seat and approached his older brother.

"How could I have been so stupid, Tails?" Sonic asked, calming down after a moment of silence, sighing. "Not only he used you against me, but he also used what I thought was the truth to mess with my head. I bet he's probably laughing his head off, thinking that I'm still...still furious and upset about what could've happened to the aliens when he knows what they turn into."

Ashamed with himself, the teenage hedgehog leaned forward slightly and closed his eyes in more guilt, as well as anger he tried to keep under control. "I really thought that draining the aliens of their life force would kill them, and I was so afraid of that happening. But I was wrong, and even worse, when Eggman was finally telling the truth...I didn't believe him, because I was so angry. And then he had the nerve to use what I thought was the truth against me..."

Sonic squeezed his eyes tighter, as memories of the last time he'd been tricked resurfaced. "...He lied to me again...! And I let him...just like I fell into his trap two months ago.

"Sonic, it wasn't your fault. You know that Eggman likes to mess with everybody's heads, and I think we can both agree that what he's trying to do now is messing with our heads to the next level." Tails tried to reassure.

"Yeah, well, it's my fault that I said that. Not only that, I came dangerously close in being turned into his puppet..." Sonic paused uncomfortably, the guilt of what happened back at the generator came back, and looked away from his best friend, unable to gaze at him. "I almost lost you, Tails. Seeing you under his control...it's a nightmare."

"It felt like a nightmare." His best friend/little brother admitted. "I don't remember after I pushed you out of the way and before I woke up, but what I do remember was the scary feeling of just...floating in black space, like I was dead."

Tails shuddered at that memory. "I'll be having real nightmares for weeks."

"I'm sorry, buddy." Sonic muttered, forcing himself to gaze at Tails again. "I won't let that happen again to you or anyone else, and I'm gonna find out what that fathead really knows about the aliens' transformations and turn them back to normal. I can't tell if transforming into something horrible is worse than dying or it's the otherway around. Either way, whenever he gets his grubby hands on anything and anyone is always a horrible thing."

"I'm really glad you realize that it'll be okay." The two-tailed fox smiled a little.

"Thanks, and...thanks for saving me. I think I've been losing my touch lately." The speedy hedgehog smiled a little himself.

"I think what you need is more than just two months off from stopping Eggman, or at least him really stop being evil."

Sonic rolled his eyes, "Yeah, in our dreams. Besides, you know that I don't stay in one place for long." He then shrugged in a bit of disbelief. "Still can't believe that what he was about to tell me was really a truth, one of the 99 times out of 100 that he lied, and then telling another lie shortly after. That's gotta be a new record."

"Always a first time for everything." Tails shrugged.

"I know. I'm just so relieved that I still have a chance to save all of the aliens, and figure out what they end up turning into so that I can find a way to restore them." The blue hedgehog nodded, gazing at Yacker, adding. "And I have their mom to save too."

More than that, it was a huge relief to find out that the Wisps that had their energy stolen and configured were in fact still alive. The painful guilt of being unable to save them lifted from his heart which seemed to be healing from that thought. Sonic still had a lot of more rescuing to do, and he was going to do it. All that left now was to explore the Wisps' homeworld and shut down the generator there, and the other two remaining generators after that while saving more aliens, and learn what they turn into once their Hyper-Go-Ons are drained.

"Hey, Sonic?" Tails spoke up.

"Yes?"

"You know that I've always got your back."

"I know that. C'mere." Sonic whispered, gently pulling his little brother into a loving embrace as the two adoptive brothers hugged, and the blue hedgehog gave the two-tailed fox another soft kiss on the head, whispering. "I'll always do my best to protect you. I promise."

"I know." Tails whispered back.

Even though Sonic still felt guilty for having put his sweet best friend into that ordeal, he was so happy to still have him out of pure luck. He then remembered Chip's advice, or at least the hallucination of the advice, to be himself...and then realized that maybe the reason why he hasn't been himself lately was because of the one thing he felt for months on end.

_"Be yourself, Sonic. Don't let guilt or fear overcome you."_

'_I guess have been letting guilt and fear eat me alive. Still hard to get over, though. But Tails, Chip and Knuckles are right. Yacker too. If anyone's really to blame for everything that's happened, it's Eggman. I'm can contain him, and I can stop him and save the worlds, like I always do. I've done it a million times before by now. Why should this time be any different?_' Sonic thought, his determination and courage coming back.

Besides, maybe it was time to let his friends to cheer him up...because they always been with him even when they're not around. That won't stop Sonic the Hedgehog from being there for them or cheering them up whenever they felt down.

'_I can do this. I know I can!_' He added to himself in his mind.

* * *

The moment the Egg Shuttle came to a stop and opened it's doors, Sonic wasted no time in racing out of the claustrophobic piece of flying junk and into the open, with Tails and Yacker close behind. The moment the trio did, they stopped just about five feet from their ride and gazed around their surroundings. While Yacker squealed happily to finally be home after who knows how long, flying around in circles, both Sonic and Tails were in absolute awe at the Planet Wisp itself.

The soft green grass with dandelion-like flowers up to their knees, or at least it was to the blue hedgehog, other colourful flowers everywhere, giant trees that were oddly shaped like giant flowers along with huge vines and amazing cliff-sides, the sky bright and blue with white fluffy clouds, and Wisps that were flying around everywhere of all shapes and colours.

Very alien looking, but very beautiful too.

"Wow! This is just...WOW!" Tails stuttered in awe, unable to describe on how beautiful this place is.

"You're telling me, little buddy." Sonic whispered in as much awe as his best friend. "This is definitely my kind of place. I've never seen anything so beautiful!"

Being a lover for nature, the blue hedgehog felt like he was in paradise; the real paradise. It gave him memories of when he was very young, maybe three or five years old in fact, so around ten or twelve years ago. One of his earliest memories was playing around in a field of soft, fresh green grass, colourful flowers everywhere, tall trees near where he used to live. Sonic had, as usual, been running that day, laughing happily and seeing how wonderful Mother Nature is made him want to see the outside world, to run wild, living fast and free.

Unfortunately, as the three friends were gazing around, something completely out of place caught their attention up ahead and as Yacker's eye widened in shock and disbelief while squealing in horror, Sonic and Tails both let out soft gasps of their own and in the cobalt hero's case, no small amount of anger and disgust which he hid as much as he could. The sight of metal and construction work could be seen from the distance. Still pretty far from where they stood, but close enough for them to see.

It infuriated the blue hedgehog, his quills sharpening that represented his anger, his fist clutched tightly as he tried to stop it from shaking.

'_Calm down. You can fix this._' Sonic thought to himself, exhaling deeply as he tried to keep his cool. Nodding to himself, he knew what he had to do. "I wish I could've prevented that construction work."

"Sonic, it's not your fault. Eggman's the one causing all of this, and the only to stop it is to save all the Wisps and their planet." Tails told him.

"Which is exactly what I'm gonna do. I can't leave just leave this place in his grubby, robotic hands...!" The blue hedgehog nodded, and after a quick goodbye and promise to meet up with his two friends again later, he sprinted off across the beautiful fields while trying not to disturb it's magnificent landscape as much as possible.

* * *

As Sonic raced through the very alien but very beautiful landscape of Planet Wisp, feeling the very soft grass brushed against his legs and the surprisingly gentle wind sweep across his face and quills, he would've enjoyed it more if the horrid construction work of heavy metal wasn't there in the first place. It hadn't taken him long before he reached the iron metal floor replacing the dirt and grass ground.

'_Such a beautiful planet, and all of this machinery is ruining it. And these poor aliens. They're living in fear of having to watch their world change around them and being kidnapped to be used as fuel and mind-controlling energy._' He thought to himself as he ran across the metal path leading up, passing many buzzers and cranes lifting metal beams and attachments.

"This is unforgivable...! It doesn't matter whether the aliens are dying or turning into something they can't control, it's not fair to them! They don't deserve to suffer..." The blue hedgehog hissed, running into the first Egg-Beetle with a driller or two in place for arms screwing in large bolts together into metal before it detected his pressence and sounded the alarm. He skid to a stop and stood there, glaring at him with a scowl on his nuzzle.

"**Warning! Identifying intruder: Sonic the Hedgehog. Threat levels to 5. Priority one: Elimin-!**" It didn't get the chance to finish because Sonic eliminated it with a single spin dash, smashing it into pieces where it collapsed just as he landed in a crouch on the cold, hard metal floor.

"Sorry, what'd you say? I thought you said eliminate." The blue hedgehog taunted the now wrecked robot. "If you did, then you picked the wrong side."

Running again as he went deeper into the construction side, the teenage Mobian came across another capsule of trapped aliens, the first he'd seen since arriving here, and immediately opened it to release three white Wisps who hovered out and, upon seeing the blue hedgehog who gave them a friendly wave, freaked out and flew away into a corner, huddling each other in fear. Not the kind of reaction Sonic had in mind.

"Wait, hold on! It's okay!" Sonic cried out, feeling the case of deja vu. Sighing, he slowly approached the terrified aliens and bend down on one knee. Seeing how scared they looked once again broke his heart.

The poor things. Seeing their world transform from a peaceful, beautiful and innocent world they were born and grew up in into a horrible, ugly, and dangerous factory and attraction for Eggman to mess with, and then transfer the Wisps to either planets that were also taken away from their orbits of the universe into the orbit of Mobius, or for powering up robots, or for their Hyper-Go-Ons to be drained for a mind-control weapon to enslave all live in Sonic's world...and the aliens themselves turning into something they can't control.

He gave them a soft, reassuring smile as he told them calmly and gently. "Hey, it's gonna be alright, little guys. I won't hurt you. I'm a friend."

The three Wisps hesitantly looked up at the blue hedgehog and his soft expression, along with softness and reassurance in his emerald green eyes.

"My name's Sonic. I'm here to help. I know what you're going through and I'm just as upset with what's happening to your world as you all are. But I'll fix things up, and free your friends. You can trust me." Sonic explained and peacefully held out his right hand. "It's okay."

Seeing how friendly he was and that he was the one who freed them from that capsule, the white Wisps slowly relaxed before floating gently over to him. The blue hedgehog gave a delicate chuckle, his smile still soft and kind as he stood up. The aliens spun around welcomingly and in gratitude, even though their eyes looked all sad and, to his worry, tearful. Sonic smile fade to that of a concerned expression, he was surprised that the three cute Wisps hugged him, half-burying their faces into his chest and he could feel it slowly dampen with tears.

It made him want to cry, too.

"Poor little guys." The blue hedgehog whispered, carefully wrapping his arms around their tiny bodies in his best effort to comfort them as they cried softly. "Shhh...It's alright. Your world will be free again. I promise."

They stayed like this for a few minutes before the aliens calmed down and feeling much better as their savior not only freed them, but also gave them comfort despite having just met, and Sonic suddenly wondered if, in a weird way, he reminded them of their 'Mama', whom he still had to find and save. He really had no idea what she looked like, other than that she was an alien Wisp as well. Given what Yacker at told him, Tails and Knuckles, she really was a very caring mother if she had done her best to protect her children.

Gently letting go, the aliens were much happier now as they circled around the blue hedgehog again before nuzzling him on the face which made Sonic laugh over their affection towards him, and then lend him their powers of boost. Knowing what to do and, while he still wanted to be careful, was more relaxed now that he knew he still had a full chance in saving all of them, the blue hedgehog sped along the construction site with a trail of colours in his wake, smashing away a few more robots during their construction work before reaching a grind rail and glided his way deeper into the heavy metal buildings.

"WOOO HOOOOO!" Sonic cheered as he surfed his way up and down and around, and over the loops. As soon as he reached the safer platform, he leaped off the grind and landed safely, while his new friends emerged and beamed happily at him. "Glad you're feeling much better."

The white Wisps nodded and beamed even more when the blue hedgehog gave them a thumbs up and a wink, before they waved a goodbye and flew away to rejoin the rest of their kind in their home, to the non-construction area and towards their freedom. Sonic smiled in relief that they would be okay, then sighed in sadness.

"Poor guys. I can't believe they have to go through all of this." He said to himself, before gazing up ahead with a scowl on his face. "You're really pushing it big time, Eggman. One of these days, if you're not careful, your evil plot is gonna backfire on you so hard that..."

Sonic trialed off, not wanting to think about the outcome, or at least not speak it aloud. Evil or not, the death of Eggman would hit the blue hedgehog hard. Ending the evil man's life for good wasn't the way the teenager wanted to end their endless conflict, but losing to scientist was just as scary, especially since he knew what the end result was going to be.

"...Why can't you stop? Why won't you quit in being evil? Why do you...Why do you want to make the world the way you want to so badly? What's wrong with the way it is, or the way the universe is?" He whispered, his heart aching over this.

The blue hedgehog squeezed his eyes shut, he grunted. "I don't understand!"

Shaking with mixed emotions, Sonic glared up at the horrible construction work, and practically shouted loudly, causing his voice to echo through out the metal all around him. "I hate you, Eggman! I HATE YOU!"

Breathing heavily over the outburst, and realizing that he let his emotions overcome him again, the blue hedgehog sighed as he attempted to calm down while placing a hand over his chest. While he still felt upset about the entire situation, for some reason letting out his frustration seemed to put an ease on him even if the evil man wasn't around to hear it.

"I really need to work on keeping my feelings in check. But that's for later." Sonic muttered to himself, gazing ahead as he continued with determination. "For now, I've got more aliens to save, and a generator to find and shut off. Hang in there, little guys! I'm coming to save you! And Yacker's mom, I'll find you, and I'll free you from Baldy McNosehair's grasp. I swear it."

With that thought in mind, Sonic dwelved deeper into the heavy metal construction, not willing to look back and especially not giving up.

* * *

As he ran deeper into the building of nothing but metal and technology, Sonic glared at it all around him, running up the metal ramps and jumping onto platforms while spin dashing into robots at the very top as he went, leaving them with no chance of attacking. Still feeling frustrated, the blue hedgehog took it out on the robots even though he tried to stay cool, calm and collected.

But everything about the construction disgusted him. Not just the area itself, but how it was covering the beautiful nature of Planet Wisp, how even the water was polluted, looking all deadly-shade of purple as he ran past the metal cliff. Not only that, but the young Mobian really understood why the Wisps were in such a panic; their world being taken over, and being kidnapped in capsules for Eggman to use for his robots, mind-control machine, or just for brain-washed tourists to look at like displays in museums.

_'If I had been brain-washed, no doubt I'll be used against everybody who could resist Eggman...especially my friends. Even worse, I'd come so close in being under his control. It's almost like...like he doesn't just want to get rid of me._' Sonic thought to himself, only for his eyes to widen after he smashed another robot into pieces.

No, it was what Eggman would want other than to kill the blue hedgehog. Sonic's stomach turned as a unbidden memory from the very first time he ultimately defeated the evil doctor, back before he first met Tails.

* * *

_**Flash-Back: A long time ago...During the final battle against Eggman for the first time...**_

_"WHAT!?" A younger Sonic exclaimed in shock, confronting Dr. Ivo Robotnik in his huge robot just after the former found the last Chaos Emerald. He couldn't believe what he was hearing. "You want me to what!?"_

_"Did you lose your hearing, little hedgehog?" Robotnik sneered, snickering evilly. "Your unnatural speed will have us control all of Mobius along with the Chaos Emeralds. Imagine the power we can share against all who oppose us. Join me, Sonic the Hedgehog, and together we can rule the world. Help me with your greatest ability."_

_Sonic's eyes widened in shock and horror, his heart hammering hard within his chest. Join forces with Robotnik, to take over the world? To fight against everyone who would lose their freedom? The young hedgehog felt sick in the stomach at the very thought, of his own speed to be used for evil..._

_That terrified him beyond belief. Sonic didn't want to use his abilities for evil. He just wanted to go on adventures, to run, to have fun, to make new friends, to see different places all over the world, explore unknown terrains, everything beyond South Island. Not only that, he admittedly never understood why he'd been born with incredible speed and had accepted that it was just that he was born different and liked being fast and cool._

_Now he did understand. Somewhere, someone, or maybe fate, the blue hedgehog was destined to be the hero, to rise against evil tyrannts like Robotnik, to save the world. Being a hero wasn't on Sonic's dream list, but he always liked to help out others, and since his journey began in Green Hill Zone, he just quickly accepted that no one else was fast enough to stop the evil madman, and that being a hero was kind of cool as he liked action, but it was the right thing to do._

_"No." Sonic replied after a moment, eyes narrowing as he stood his ground._

_"What?" Robotnik muttered with deep scowl._

_"No! I'll never join with you! I don't want to rule the world with a fake, horrible dream like yours. I want to see it the way it is without it being taken over! I want to see the real world, all of the beauty of Mother Nature, to make new friends, to see different places, all of the freedom everybody has, and to live fast and free!" Sonic declared bravely._

_He paused before continuing, "I never left South Island before, but you taking it over for your stupid badniks and machines, putting all of my critter friends for batteries inside robots is bad enough! But to take over the entire world to look like this place we're in? Forget it! I love Mobius the way it is before you showed up. The entire island is my home, but that's just one part of the world. No matter where I go in Mobius..."_

_Sonic smiled contently and with confidence. "...The whole world is my home. It's everybody's home. And if you think you can take it away from us, you're even more stupid than you look even with your ugly mustache and pink nose, Ro-butt-nik!"_

_That really made Robotnik furious now, because his face was turning almost as red as his red coat, as he bashed on the dashboard while having a tantrum for not only Sonic's refuseful, but also the taunts the blue hedgehog was giving him._

_"Curse you, hedgehog! Fine! Then I will crush you and your life will forfeit, and the Chaos Emeralds will be mine! As all will the rest of the world!" Robotnik shouted._

_"You want the Chaos Emeralds? You'll have to get rid of me first, Buttnik!" Sonic declared. He then ran in high speed towards Robotnik who controlled his machine to attack and crush the blue hedgehog._

_By the end of the long, hard and near-deadly battle, Sonic had emerged victorious._

* * *

_**Back in the Present...**_

"Can't believe I almost forgot about that." Sonic muttered to himself, pausing in his steps as he mentally came out of his memories of that day. He scratched the back of his head. "Guess Eggman decided to try and make me work for him to make things easier. Good thing that didn't work...even if Tails ended up being controlled before the energy ran out. Then again, that creep likes to mess with my feelings since he knows how much I love my friends. Especially my little bro."

A moment of silence followed, before the blue hedgehog shook his head firmly and gazed upward with renewed determination. "No. I'll never join with you, Eggman. If I have to, I'll find a way to fight against your control if I do end up hit. I won't give up!"

He then smirked confidently, adding despite that he knew that his enemy couldn't hear him. "You really thought I wouldn't be suspecting what you're up to? Ha! You're even twice as stupid as you were back then...Baldy McNosehair."

Knowing what to do, Sonic took off at the speed of sound across the metal floor, further away from the wonderful nature of the Wisps' home and deeper into the construction site Eggman was building and his smirk widened when he came across three Badniks with lasers. They fired at him, but the blue hedgehog was too fast for them. He zig-zagged from side to side as he approached them, spin dashing into one through the torso, sliding underneath another and ducked to avoid it's arm when it swung at him before leaping high into the air and bouncing onto the third one's head, distracting enough to cause it to vaporize it's own comrade.

The robot stood there stunned after seeing what happened and then scanned around to find it's real target but couldn't find the blue hedgehog.

"Yo, Tin-Can! Lookin' for someone?"

Hearing his voice, the robot looked up to see Sonic on a higher metal ledge smirking down at it. He then wiggled his fingers above his head and gave the robot a raspberry with a funny look in his eyes. That infuriated the robot who steamed red in anger before firing up at him. The blue hedgehog taunted a laugh as he sped away, easily dodging the laser and kept at it as the robot followed suit from below.

"You gotta do better than that, slow poke!" He taunted with his smirk widening. Sonic then leaped from the ledge and up onto a large metal beam being lifted by thin wiring on a crane and despite it's uneasy balance, he managed. Looking back down, he wated until it was right underneath it. "Up here! Come and get me!"

Taking bait, the robot fired it's laser once more, and Sonic jumped off and spun into a ball down to the ground while the attack may have missed him, it certainly didn't miss the wiring. Unfortunately for the robot who realized this too late, the heat of it's laser snapped the cable, causing the heavy beam to descend from the 40 foot height. Sonic quickly ran to avoid getting crushed, while the robot stupidly stood there stunned by it's biggest mistake.

"**Uh oh...**" It muttered...

_**CRUSH! CRASH!**_

Right before the beam landed on top of the robot, crushing it flat and rocking the ground, shaking the area for a bit before the mini-quakes stopped. Pausing at the ledge where another grind rail was, Sonic looked back and chuckled at the result.

"All in the day's work." The teenage hedgehog muttered to himself. "Way too easy."

With that done, Sonic leaped onto the grind rail to continue his way through to find more aliens to save as well as the generator to shut off, knowing that his journey in this world had only just began.

* * *

**A/N: Kind of a slow chapter, but hopefully the next one will make up for it. So now Sonic is becoming more aware of what really happens to the Wisps, the poor cute little things.**

**See you later!**


	9. Spike Wisps are Pink, a Hedgehog is Blue

**Author's Note: Another chapter is here! And thank you wonderful readers for liking this story so far. I'll do my best for the rest of chapters that are yet to come. So let's continue onward!**

**I do not own Sonic The Hedgehog. All rights belong to Sega.**

* * *

_Chapter 9: Spike Wisps are Pink, a Hedgehog is Blue._

"Man. Why does Eggman's technology have to stink? I mean, I'm not totally against all techs, but seriously." Sonic complained as he raced through the construction site, which he quickly grew sick and tired of even just when he first stepped into this place. After having glided down the grind rail, the blue hedgehog couldn't help but feel claustrophobic even though it was a better opened area than the Egg Shuttle, and here he can at least move around more.

As Sonic was about to continue onward after freeing more Wisps such as Cyan and yellow ones, he quickly came across another capsule and nodded to himself. He immediately kicked it open just as three pink Wisps emerged, having spikes on their heads, though they looked rather harsh...and like before he felt another deja vu. The blue hedgehog gulped a bit nervously as they looked ready to seemingly attack.

"Wait! Wait." Sonic quickly held up his hands before they could jump to conclusions. "I'm not your enemy. I'm not the one behind all of this. Please, you gotta believe me."

Unfortunately, neither of the pink Wisps were convinced as they all charged and Sonic quickly ducked just as they each hit and became stuck in the wall. He was just about to go over to help when they pulled themselves out and charged again. The blue hedgehog quickly side-stepped quickly, only to end up repeatedly having to do so when the three aliens kept on going, considering there were three of them.

"Whoa! Hey! Ah! Stop! I don't want to hurt you, guys!" Sonic cried out, ducking and dodging each attack. For small aliens, these ones are surprisingly fast. The pink Wisps didn't listen and were becoming more and more frustrated. "I'm not the one who's ruining your home. I only want to help!"

That still didn't convince the Wisps, because they shared a glance and nodded with a fierce look in their eyes, which the blue hedgehog didn't like at all. Feeling even more nervous, he wisely backed away with his hands up in defense. Before he could say anything, the aliens spun around him and glowed in some kind of energy which, to his surprise and shock, formed a nearly invisible sphere all around him, and practically lifting him off the metal floor, trapping him.

"AH! Hey! What're you doin'!?" Sonic exclaimed, struggling to free himself. "Let me go!"

The Wisps refused to listen and instead, using their combined power, carried the blue hedgehog towards the ledge and the closer they got, the more he felt something bad was waiting for him. It was when he could hear the flows of a trickling sound that he knew where they were taking him; towards more purple liquid.

"No, no, wait! Don't do this! You can't drop me!" He practically begged, beginning to quickly panic. "I'm not a swimmer! I can't even float!"

It only seemed to sastisfy the angry and confused pink Wisps, because they hovered a little faster with every intention of dropping the increasingly terrified hedgehog to his liquidary doom, still believing that he was an enemy. He whimpered in fear and kept frailing his arms and legs in a futile attempt to break free.

"Please, don't drop me! I saved your friends earlier! I'm fighting these robots that are turning your world into this metal mess!" Sonic pleaded, but it feel to deaf ears as he was being forced closer and closer and he could begin to see the ominous sight of a deadly purple like from several stories up, waiting for him to drown, sink and quite possibly burn in because he was positive that it was acid.

The Wisps cast a glare at him and he knew that he wouldn't be able to convince these aliens and even though they were supposed to be gentle and friendly, Sonic knew that they had been furious with Eggman and came to a conclusion that all outsiders were evil.

"NO! Nooooo!" Sonic screamed, and when he was just over the lake itself, he screamed louder while shutting his eyes, bracing himself. "AAAAAAAAHHHHHHH! HELP ME!"

Once he was over the ledge, the Wisps dismissed their power and moved away, causing Sonic to fall and plummet down towards his demise as he screamed, getting closer and closer into landing into the lake, unaware that three white blurs flew past the pink aliens whose eyes widened in shock and disbelief. Sonic in the meantime desperately reached out for something, anything, for him to grab onto to stop his descend but couldn't see anything. He knew there and then that this was it.

'_Tails. Yacker. I'm sorry. Please be okay._' The blue hedgehog thought as he squeezed his eyes shut, a couple tears of failure and fear flew free, believing that he would never see them or anyone else again, all because of a misunderstanding. Just when he thought he was all over, his descend slowed to a stop and he didn't feel the burning acid or even feeling wet at all. Not even hearing a splash.

"Huh?" Opening his eyes, Sonic found that he was in another glowing sparkly sphere. For a split second, he hallucinated again and thought that it was green, and saw Chip in front of him. But when he blinked, his friend was gone, and the sphere was white-ish, and there were three white aliens around it. Blinking in surprise, the blue hedgehog looked down and saw that he was just inches above the deadly liquid.

"Whoa! A few more seconds and I woulda been in that." He yelped in fright with a sweatdrop after a few heart-stopping seconds, before gazing at the more friendlier Wisps that had saved his life and found something even more familiar about them. It then registered and blinked as they used their powers to lift him up towards the ledge and to safety. It's the same ones that were afraid of him earlier, whom he comforted and then trusted him.

"%$# #$^%&?" One of the white aliens muttered, looking very concerned and as though it nearly had a bigger heart-attack as Sonic almost had.

"Hey! Hiya. I didn't expect to see you guys again so soon. Did you follow me?" Sonic greeted happily and in relief. When the aliens nodded and babbled again in their language, he gave them a grateful smile. "I'm okay. Thanks for saving me."

The aliens blushed, as all four of them were approaching closer to the ledge while the pink Wisps looked on in disbelief. Once they were up, the three Wisps that had saved his life carried him to the metal floor and gently set him down, where he made a very short drop and landed safely as the power wore off.

"Phew. That was close." He sighed in relief, scratching the back of his head, adding half-jokingly with a hint of nervousness in his voice. "Guess today's the _'Let's try and kill the hedgehog'_ day."

Yacker and the three aliens that Sonic had saved earlier and whom had saved him just in time were having a pleading argument with the three pink Wisps who apparently were still in belief that the blue hedgehog was an enemy. When the pink aliens glanced over to Sonic once the other Wisps told them what happened, the hedgehog slowly approached with a sad and gentle expression.

"I know you're really upset with all this technology taking over your home. I know what it's like watching everything you grew up with change for the worst. But I'm not the one responsible for this. You gotta believe me." The blue hedgehog tried reasoning again.

Hearing this made the pink Wisps glance at the white ones who nodded, confirming that Sonic has indeed been telling the truth and their expressions changed drastically. Now feeling incredibly guilty for almost sending their savior to his demise due to suspicions and distrust over what was happening, the spiky aliens lowered their heads and lowered themselves to the floor, practically bowing and groveling at his feet, babbling in their language, much to his shock and surprise.

"Oh, man." Sonic moaned, shaking his hands quickly as he attempted to reassure them. "No no no, c'mon guys! You don't have to grovel or beg or whatever, really! Okay, I am a little bit annoyed that you almost killed me, but how can I be angry with you guys when you were really upset about your home and what you had to go through? Trust me, I know a couple of guys who went crazy over a something like this or similar, like what happened to your friends. I've been through it a few hours ago."

The pink Wisps looked at him in surprise while sharing an incredulous glance, while the white ones hovered lower curiously as the blue hedgehog knelt on both knees, sighing.

"My best friend Tails was almost taken away from me, because I made a mistake of turning my back at the man who's the true cause of all this. The one you call Baldy Nosehair. He's my enemy, too. His name is Dr. Eggman, an evil scientist who has done so many horrible things to my planet, Mobius. For years he's tried to conquer it, and I've always been stopping him since I was a kid. When he did what he did today, I was so angry myself I couldn't think straight." He explained.

Sonic didn't expect them to understand what he was talking about, but he hoped that his expression said it all. Though he did wish he could understand what they were saying. The aliens looked rather shocked to hear that the horrible man that was taking over their world and imprisoning them and the rest of their kind had done something to the world where the fifteen year old hedgehog had come from, and that their hero had kept on fighting Eggman, and yet the he still kept on being evil.

"Now all of this happened, and he's taking things way too far." He continued, and sighed in growing guilt. "This is...a whole new level of cruelty...I didn't know...I didn't know that your entire home was kidnapped for his usual plot in taking over everything...! I wish I did. If I'd known a lot sooner, none of this would've happened. I'm sorry...I'm so sorry that you had to suffer...It's not fair...!"

The cobalt hedgehog lowered his head, the fact that he hadn't acted sooner still lingered heavily on his shoulders. He then remembered the hallucination of Chip's advice and tried to force down the urge to break, to drown into that guilt.

"_**DO YOU REALLY BELIEVE YOU CAN SAVE ALL OF THEM? THOSE THREE ATTEMPTED TO END YOUR LIFE. WHY SHOULD YOU FORGIVE THEM?**_" The voice of the Werehog echoed in Sonic's mind, and for that second he was hallucinating again even though at the same time the aliens were still in front of him. The fact that they were looking at him in concern and not seeing the monster behind him was more than enough proof that the sights of the beast and Chip were really all in his head.

But no, he refused to give into the guilt. It was then that Sonic realized something that made him mentally open his eyes.

'_Of course. For some reason whenever I feel guilt, this guy comes up to make me be consumed by it, and triggering my fears. I forgot that my guilt, sorrow and rage were part of what created him...and brought Sun to life._' The blue hedgehog thought to himself. More than that, yes the pink alliens didn't trust him...but it's not their fault.

'_Because...because I don't blame anyone who are scared or angry that something or someone are taken away from them. The ones that I won't forgive are those with evil intentions, and Eggman's always been evil. Everything he does, apart from saving Shadow's life before using him for Andriod clones, is unforgivable._' Sonic mentally replied without looking like he was thinking, wanting to focus on reality.

"_**YOU FOOL.**_" The Werehog hissed, as, in Sonic's mind, materializing right behind him and towered over the blue hedgehog, it's shadow looming over him. "_**IT WAS YOU WHO HAS FAILED TO STOP DOCTOR EGGMAN FROM USING THEIR POWER, BECAUSE YOU WERE SELFISH.**_"

'_I wasn't selfish!_' Sonic mentally argued. '_Being selfish means not caring. There's the difference between selfishness and not knowing. The only selfish one is Eggman! All he cares about is himself and nobody else. Me, I care about everyone. I care about these aliens because...because I love them. They're my friends, and I'll do whatever it takes to get their freedom back, and free their home. Just as I love my friends back in Mobius, and the entire planet itself._'

With this mental statement, Sonic chose to ignore the Werehog despite it opening it's mouth and lower down to engulf him whole. Despite the mental feeling of it happening, the teenager gazed up at the aliens once more with determination, and held a soft smile with confidence in his eyes.

"That's why I'll do whatever it takes to free all of you, and get your home back. I don't want any of you or the rest of your kind to suffer anymore." He continued to the pink Wisps. "I've stopped that creep all the time, and I'm gonna do it again. I promise."

Despite the hallucination getting closer and closer, Sonic then rubbed the side of his face hopefully, "Though if you don't mind...I don't have to do this alone. If we stand together, everything will be okay. I know you want to help your friends as much as I do, because they're your family. You don't have to help me if you don't want to, and I'm cool with that. But...maybe just once and a while until McNosehair is stopped?"

In an instant the guilt and hostility from the pink aliens were gone and even though they still held the firm looks in their eyes, they hovered up with squeals and spun around him, much more welcoming and relieved that he didn't have a grudge against them for what they did and he was certainly happy that their misunderstanding was finally cleared up. Though they weren't huggy like the other aliens were, he didn't mind. The fact they finally trusted him was more than enough, so much so that he heard the Werehog let out a gasp in shock and disbelief before vanishing like dust in the wind.

'_Heh. Take that, Hairball._' Sonic mentally smirked, surprised and very relieved that for once he actually beaten the hallucination of the beast that tried to kill him or be overcome by guilt and fear. He stood up with a relieved smile as the White Wisps now looked just as happy and relieved as they joined in.

However, they were rudely interrupted when the area started to shake and the group stumbled, followed by a strangely familiar voice but in a different accent filled the air around the corner. "ARGH! There ye' are, Sonic!"

"What the? Who's there!?" Sonic demanded as he and the aliens turned into the same direction, only to see a familiar yellow cube-shaped robot with three Beebots ready for an attack. The blue hedgehog recognized the smaller robot almost immediately.

"Hey, you're that new bot back at Tropical Resort!" He exclaimed, glaring as he stood in front of the aliens defensively. "Never woulda pegged Eggman to sent you out!"

"Aye, it is! Me name is Cubot. Ye' underestimatin' the Cap'n of here Amusement Park, ye' filthy rat! Ye' ain't gonna be sailin' away this time!" Cubot replied, still in the pirate voice that Orbot installed, which made Sonic and the Wisps sweatdrop, dumbfounded.

"First, I'm a hedgehog!" Sonic grunted in annoyance a second later, and then asked while folded his arms calmly while the Wisps behind him shivered at the sight of the robots behind Cubot. "And second, when did you end up speaking pirate? Last I heard, your voice kept on getting stuck on cowboy."

"Whatever ye' are ain't gonna matter, cause you're gonna be mushed and sliced like a fish, ye' lubber." Cubot responded, then added with a shrug. "And me matey Orbot gave me my new voice chip to rid me o'l voice...which I kinda miss, actually."

"Did he happen to install a mute button on you too?" The blue hedgehog deadpanned.

"Uhh...Not sure, lad." Cubot replied stupidly, scratching the top of his head with a confused look, oblivious to the sarcasm yet again. He then shrugged again and gestured at the robots behind him. "Anyway, you're 'bout to walk the plank, matey! Prepare to meet your maker, Sonic!"

"Oh, I'm so scared." Sonic mocked as he prepared himself to fight, while holding an arm out to shield the Wisps.

"Arrr! Ye' better be, 'cause my maties shall serve ya' like crabs!" Cubot declared, before moving out of the way quickly while ordering the Bee-Bots. "Get 'im, ye' Buzzin' Deckies!"

But as he wasn't looking where he was going, the cube-shaped robot ended up smacking face first into the wall hard with an 'omph!' before stumbling back in daze. When he spoke again, much to Sonic and the Wisps' confusion, he ended in another voice.

And a weird one at that.

"_Owie, that really hurt._" Cubot muttered, speaking in a mixture in a distorted, high-pitched voice like he sucked in helium, which he also realized in dismay. "_Hey, I sound so stupid! What happened to my voice!? I better get on outta here to get it fixed!_"

The stupid robot then made a hasty retreat by zooming past Sonic and the aliens who watched him go, heading into the direction the blue hedgehog had come from, with raised eye-brows. Even the Bee-Bots hovered there awkwardly over what just happened.

"And here I thought Egghead's robots couldn't get even dumber." Sonic remarked, before the Bee-bots charged straight at them. Quickly grabbing the six aliens in his arms and dashed out of the way to avoid in getting it, he let go once they were in a bit of a safe distence before turning to his new friends and told them. "Okay, you guys better get somewhere that's safe. I'll handle these Bee-Bots."

Though as Sonic turned to charge at the robots that prepared to attack again, one of the pink Wisps, after sharing a nod of agreement with the other two pink aliens, and the white ones holding encouraging looks, flew around the blue hedgehog who blinked in surprise before realizing what it intended on doing. Despite wanting to be careful, he nodded to it and braced himself as the pink alien went straight into his chest. He then began to glow pink, his quills becoming sharper and soon found himself curling up into a ball, but unlike his spin dash, spikes were sticking out.

Feeling much more forceful than whenever he'd normally use his own attacks, Sonic spun straight into one of the Bee-Bots and sliced through it with definite ease, eliminating it instantly. Cheering, Sonic did the same with the other two who attempted to attack but never got the chance. He made sure that they were well away from the other five aliens who were cheering on. By the time the robots were gone, he returned to normal-and to his true blue colour-while the pink Wisp emerged from him.

"Wow! That was way past cool!" Sonic exclaimed, even though turning pink for that short time was a bit of a nightmare as it felt like he was turning into Amy since she's a pink hedgehog. But he chose to ignore that dreadful feeling. The pink Wisp nodded, much less hostile now as the other two pink Wisps joined it's sides, also far less hostile, still looking a bit apologetic.

He just smiled.

"It's okay. It was all a misunderstanding. I'm not one to hold grudges, anyway." The blue hedgehog reassured, and the aliens beamed happily, each one including the three white ones giving Sonic a high-five as he laughed before they all bid farewell as he'd decided that the other two had their other friends to find. All six wisps then flew away, the white ones look over their shoulders and waved again, while Sonic waved back.

The young Mobian then turned around and, knowing that he still had a lot more work to do, took off as he ran deeper into the construction site with determination to free more Wisps and find the generator in order to free their world from Eggman's Amusement Park.

* * *

The more he traversed through the construction site, the much less sky Sonic was able to see and it really reminded him too much of many of Eggman's hideouts he's traversed through in each of his adventures. Large gear fans here, which he assumed was to keep the temperatures somewhat cool to avoid over heating, more Egg Pawns and other robots there, moving platforms which he used to reach certain areas even though they were far too slow for his tastes, the usual Eggman machinery sort of thing.

"He really has this thing about closed spaces, I'm surprised he hasn't suffocated himself yet." Sonic muttered to himself after finishing off another Egg-Bot and raced off to try and find a way out. "This place is stifling, I'm really worried about the aliens trapped in here. Even with all these fans here, there's only so much they can do."

Luckily the Wisps, including the cyan, yellow, orange, red, blue, green, and more pink ones, didn't seem effected by the heat as much despite being inside the capsules and while the blue hedgehog still wanted to be careful considering he was nowhere near closer in figuring out what they turn into once all of their Hyper-Go-Ons are completely drained, borrowing their powers did help out a lot in certain areas that he needed help with. Some of the pink ones, like the first three he freed did show some distrust, but not as bad as the first time, thankfully.

"Ugh. There are certain places that really don't need any of this, and the aliens' home _definitely_ doesn't need it. It was fine the way it was and that's how it should be. I really need fresh air soon, or at least Eggman should install some air conditioning." The blue hedgehog sighed, wiping his forehead as he ran. Not to mention that he was starting to get thirsty. First he was freezing when he landed in that giant bowl of ice cream, now he felt like he was melting.

Well, at least he wasn't being cooked, and as hot as he felt now, this was thankfully nowhere near 350 degrees like that giant pie factory which he was still uncertain on whether it was the Bake Me Crazy attraction or not.

As he thought about this, Sonic then noticed another capsule up ahead, and a further away, a hint of white light shining through at the end of the path. Knowing what to do, the hero of Mobius opened up the container which another pink Wisp emerged. Though unlike the other aliens he saved, this one looked even more exhausted and...a little bit red in the face, but it wasn't anger. He instantly knew what it was. Much to his concern, the poor alien hovered weakly before simply falling slowly and he gasped worriedly before holding out his arms and gently caught it.

"Hey, you alright?" Sonic asked worriedly, carefully cradling it. It didn't respond, but it was panting slightly with it's eyes half-open. He carefully placed a hand onto it's forehead and his concern deepened while retreating it from the shocking heat. "Oh man, you're burning up. Gotta get ya' some fresh air and water, fast!"

Wasting no time and holding the sick and over-heated Wisp in his arms, Sonic quickly ran faster towards what he opened was the exit in hopes in curing the poor thing, not certain on how to help sick aliens. But he hoped that fresh air would do some relief considering how it was stuck in the cramped capsule in an over-heated area. The fact that Eggman had imprisoned the alien in that area to the point of almost suffocating angered the blue hedgehog to no end.

As luck would have it, not only there were no robots around at the moment and the way up was via a boost pad which launched him and the alien in his arms over a ramp and finally the temporary duo emerged outside from the structure and back outside. Sonic took this moment to breathe in the fresh, cool air as this world had the same oxygen as Mobius(despite that he can somehow breathe in space, something that he'd discovered while traversing Death Egg), happy to see the clear blue sky and sunshine while in mid-air before landing safely on the metal floor, as he was still surrounded by heavy construction. But the outdoors right now really made it up for it.

"Finally. That's much better." The blue hedgehog sighed, before glancing around for anything natural close by. "Okay, there's gotta be fresh, clean water around here somewhere. Or anything to cure this little guy."

He glanced at the pink Wisp in his arms and while it seemed to be looking a bit better now that they were outside, it still looked ill for the lack of air and was obviously dehydrated. Sonic glanced around for any signs of danger as well as the nearest source of actual water and not toxic waste. While it was clear that they were still pretty far away from any water and an area that wasn't taken over, what he did notice did give him a little bit of hope. On a cliff of rock and some greenery that wasn't disturbed yet, was an odd looking small tree with some kind of black fruit that looked like a mixture of a banana, and a pear.

"What's that?" Sonic muttered to himself, and, deciding to see if the funny fruit would help, he raced over and, glad for small ledges that acted like stairs, leaped up towards the main cliff where the tree was and walked over to examine it. It wasn't a big tree, just a little bit taller than himself, so the fruit was just an arm's reach.

He glanced at his sick friend in his arms, then at the fruit again and, deciding to give it a try, the blue hedgehog plucked it off and held it towards the alien's face. "Here ya' go. I don't know if this will help and I hope I didn't cause any problems by picking it, but let's hope it's juicy at least."

The pink Wisp slowly lifted it's head, recognizing the fruit before taking a bite out of it. Instantly it perked up as it felt it's energy return and it's body temperature returning to normal. It then munched down the rest of the fruit until it was gone in about five bites which surprised and impressed Sonic who smiled in relief, glad that it was back to normal. That just proved that the Wisps' powers were not the only healing source they had.

'_And they say _I'm_ a fast eater._' He thought to himself, as the pink spiky Wisp flew out of his arms and spun around happily, full of life and energy and circled around him as he let out a chuckle. "Feeling better, little guy?"

It nodded and looked much more friendlier and healthier that the pink alien even nuzzled him on the cheek, causing Sonic the laugh. "H-hey! I'm just glad that you're okay! Anyone with a heart woulda help you like I did. Ha-ha! You're making me blush!"

His new friend backed off and looked sheepish, and the blue hedgehog waved it off with a gesture that said that it was okay before they heard more machinery down below in where they came from and in the direction Sonic had been going. Up ahead, not only he had a decent view and found that he could see the generator miles ahead in the same direction, but to his shock and worry, was a familiar yellow-orange furry figure whipping two tails at a robot and using his own spin dash at another, but soon found himself surrounded. With him was another familiar cute curled-headed Wisp who tried using his own powers to fight but again it was a losing battle.

They were both surrounded by other types of Wisps, either those whom he had freed earlier, or those who haven't been captured yet, the blue hedgehog didn't know, and at the moment where they came from wasn't his biggest worry. It was the fact that they and the other two were in trouble.

"Tails! Yacker!" Sonic gasped in horror to see them in trouble. He had to get to them and fast. He was just about to go and save them when the pink Wisp landed on his head and pointed at the robots with a firm expression. In that instant, the blue hedgehog knew what it was trying to say.

"Want some piece of action on those robots that imprisoned you?" The pink Wisp nodded, and Sonic smirked. "Let's do it!"

The teenage hedgehog leaped off the cliff and back onto the path before speeding off towards the direction with his new friend on his head. Taking out robots along the way, the duo made it in the matter of seconds to the platform where Tails, Yacker and the Wisps were in trouble before Sonic glanced at the pink alien who nodded, ready when he was. Sonic then leaped off the ledge of the platform while grabbing onto a zipline, gliding his way down before shouting loudly as he let go just near them.

"SPIKE!"

Once again turning into a pink spike ball as the Wisp dissolved into his body, the blue hedgehog spun downward towards the robots that surrounded Tails and the other aliens who, hearing his voice, glanced up behind them and actually saw the performance. The two-tailed fox and the other Wisps watched in shock and awe as Sonic spun straight through each robots that were Egg Pawns, Bee-Bots, and a couple of other working robots who attempted to attack the hedgehog, but he was too fast and too spiky for them.

He sliced clean through them, cutting off many of their robotic parts and then through their bodies and such before they were all destroyed by the time Sonic returned to normal and the pink Wisp came out of him. The robots shattered and exploded slightly and harmlessly around him and his friends, most including Tails were stunned in awe by what happened.

"Hiya, Tails. How're you doin', Yacker?" Sonic greeted as he looked over his shoulder with a wave. "Everybody okay?"

"Sonic...How...wha? That was..." Tails stuttered, shocked beyond belief at the display.

"Crazy?" His best friend finished, and when the eight year old kit nodded, the fifteen year old hedgehog laughed. "Pretty wild and cool, huh?"

Tails just shared a glance with Yacker who shrugged sheepishly, and while the latter was then happily reunited with another one of his friends, the pink Wisp who spun around him happily, the young fox turned back to his adoptive older brother and said. "I began believing you when we reached Sweet Mountain, but I've never seen you do that until now."

Sonic shrugged as he turned fully around, "Yeah, well, I'm starting to get the hang of it, and still being very careful with it at the same time."

"Well, even though I missed out on seeing you do that with the other Wisps, that _was_ crazy and awesome!" His little brother remarked in awe, recovering from his shock, and the hedgehog gave him a thumbs up and a wink just as the pink Wisp and the other Wisps spun all around them, fluttering about at him happily.

"Hey, don't mention it. I had a lot of help from your buddies, including this guy." The blue hedgehog said, gesturing at the pink Wisp who blushed red bashfully, due to the fact that it was already pink. He then said to it, "Hey, thanks for helping me save everybody here."

The pink alien rubbed the back of it's head sheepishly, while Yacker beamed at his friends, both Wisps and the two Mobians.

* * *

Short time later, Sonic and Tails were walking together, further into the construction site even though they were still outside, and they could make out the beautiful landscape of Planet Wisp, which was slowly but surely being overtaken by the heavy metal around them. During that time, the blue hedgehog couldn't help but think of how nice it was to just hang out with his best friend after a long while, and made him think about the promise he made.

That they would go on adventure together, just the two of them, after having some Chili Dogs. As much as he felt bad for not keeping to that promise as they were meant to start today back at home, this was an adventure, just not as he planned. Then again, if they sticked to it, it would've been over and Eggman would've won and Sonic wouldn't even had known. That thought made him feel very uneasy.

'_Good thing that elevator and the Amusement Park stand out like the highest mountains in Mobius, and Casinos in Station Square._' He thought to himself.

"You know," Sonic began as he and his adoptive little brother walked. "As alien as this place is, there's something very Eggmanish about it."

"I think he's transforming it. Making it part of his park somehow." Tails stated, looking around with a concerned and sympathized expression.

"There's transforming, and then there's complete take-over. I'm concerned about what kind of transformations the aliens are going through. You know, when their powers are drained completely and how to turn them back to normal." The blue hedgehog pointed out.

_'I hope it's nothing like I went through. Or what Sun went through...or worse. Like Chaos._' He added to himself in his mind. Thinking about the mysterious transformations made him think about when three of the seven rings, rage, hate and sorrow, which was what he felt when Shara sacrificed herself to save him, fused into his body to fight Erazor Djinn who had turned into a monster.

Sonic never felt so scared when the results of those rings mixed with his emotions, turning him into Dark Spine Sonic, more violent and...evil compared to the positive energy the Chaos Emeralds produced when he used their powers to become Super Sonic. When he thought about it after sealing the evil genie away, after making his final wish with Shara...he'd been horrified. Thankfully his genie friend calmed him down and gave him comfort. Even as he went on adventures on his way home, and even after returning to his world, he'd been unable to sleep for a week.

He also thought about how the negativity of the Chaos Emeralds had fueled the rage within Chaos himself, resulting in creating the giagantic monster that destroyed most of Station Square, which was also Eggman's fault in his endless conquest to take over Mobius. Then there was Sun and his curse of being turned into a Werehog...one that was now appearing to him via hallucinations.

"_**Attention guests!**_" The Eggman intercom blared through the air, rudely interrupting Sonic's train of thought. "_**If you can hear this message, you are tresspassing in an area still under renovation. If you are not a robot, please return to the main park areas and ignore any evil you may have seen here. Thank you.**_"

"It looks like the _"theme"_ of his park is universal domination and conquest of alien races." The blue hedgehog thought bitterly, walking up ahead as he glared up at the sky, wishing to glare at his enemy. Even what Eggman had said earlier about mind-controlling the entire universe, Sonic now knew that the evil scientist's goal has gone way beyond Mobius.

"It's more than a theme. It's a reality." Tails pointed out, not getting the hint of sarcasm as he added. "He's using them like some sort of living intergalatic gasoline, and for brain-washing everybody."

"That's really low...even for a sleazeball like Eggman." Sonic hissed, clutching his fist tightly as it shook, representing his anger. He then punched his fist into his palm as he grunted, trying to stay calm. "He's really lost it this time. I have to stop him before he takes over the entire universe."

"_**Some displacement of indigenous aliens and destruction of natural resources may occur. Eggman Enterprises not responsible.**_" The intercom blared again, this time very fast, causing Sonic to facepalm himself in exasperation.

"Yep. He's twice as stupid as before." The blue hedgehog sighed, rolling his eyes.

Before Tails could reply, the two Mobians heard squeals of cries coming towards them and turned to see even more Wisps approach, with Yacker in the lead as he led them to the duo. Most of the aliens were all looking at Sonic with scared and panicked expressions with pleading looks in their eyes.

"You gettin' any of that?" The blue hedgehog asked Tails who pulled out his translator to see what they were saying.

"Yeah, they're totally freaked out!" The two-tailed fox replied, even though the aliens' expressions pretty much said it all to Sonic before his best friend translated. "It sounds like they're in shock because of public transportation and a loony nurse..."

Everyone raised an eyebrow at that before Tails realized that he translated wrong again, and corrected himself. "Oh, no, wait. Scratch that. They're in shock because of their planet's strange transformation and having been dragged across the universe."

"Well I still can't believe he kidnapped a whole planet! How does somebody do that!?" Sonic exclaimed, still in shock about the whole thing himself. "Let alone do it within two months!"

Tails translated what the Wisps were saying again as they attempted to explain how. "Um, they're saying it was either ice cream or a tractor beam."

"Yeah, well, I'm going to say that it wasn't ice cream shooting out of those generators." The teenager chuckled awkwardly with a smirk, scratching the back of his ear. And to think that he landed in a giant bowl of ice cream earlier.

"If it was, I'd get one for home." Tails joked.

"Dude, I'd get two! Maybe some from the giant ice cream back at Sweet Mountain." Sonic laughed, before deciding that time was being wasted as he announced to everyone. "Now if everyone will excuse me, I'm going to put a stop to these 'renovations'."

The blue hedgehog then sped off after receiving a wave from his best friend and a cheer of relief and happiness and gratitude from the Wisps, determined to free their world and stop Eggman once more.

* * *

"Oh, wow!" Sonic softly gasped in awe as he soon found himself half out of the construction site a little while later after saving more Wisps, and into a beautiful meadow of tall grass and flowers that don't exist in Mobius. "This is more like it!"

Everywhere he looked that wasn't full of metal and robots was a magnificent beauty of the world itself. While he loved nature, the blue hedgehog knew how much the aliens loved their planet; gentle creatures who had no need for technology, they could do a lot of things the way their world was. They can play in the fields and the trees, they had plenty of food to eat, they had each other to care for, how could anyone not fall in love with it?

"In a place so beautiful like this, who needs technology?" He muttered to himself. As the blue hedgehog looked up, even as the sky was perfectly blue on a lovely sunny day, he could see his home planet from a not too far distance as it gave it's own beautiful glow. He smiled warmly at the breath-taking sight, before a realization came into mind.

This would be the only time he'd ever be here, to see his home from this world, and he would never get the chance to see it from Mobius.

"When this is all over, it'll go back to where it came from. Then...Tails and I would have to say goodbye to Yacker and all of the aliens." Sonic thought with a frown of sadness. He gazed at the edge of a cliff which viewed the wonderful sight. While he knew that it was for the best and he didn't want the Wisps to be held against their will anymore, having promised to free them and their home, it was too much like when he had to say goodbye to Chip forever.

"...It's for the best." The teenage hero's voice was filled with sudden tears that developed both in his throat and in his eyes, threatening to fall free. "But...I'm gonna miss them. Just as I...Just as I still miss Chip...!"

Lowering his head despite trying to stop himself, the blue hedgehog sobbed. He really was never good at distant goodbyes, and he had no idea when he would ever see the Wisps again. What made things worse was that he felt awful for feeling like this. He'd known it would happen sooner or later, but coming to this realization now hurt more than he thought, and if felt like this, he could just imagine Tails' reaction. Although his little brother had matured since the day they met and became best friends, he was still younger than the blue hedgehog, still a kid himself.

"_It's alright, Sonic. Don't cry._"

"Huh?" That voice. He knew it. Trying to stop himself from crying even more, Sonic looked up to see yet another hallucination of Chip who hovered in front of him with a sad smile. "Chip..."

To his surprise, the hallucination didn't disappear as quickly as the others of his dear friend did, whereas he was unlucky enough to have the Werehog hallucination last longer. Still, this was better than the beast haunting him in his mind.

The blue hedgehog wiped away his tears and looked up, expecting the hallucination to end, and was both confused as well as relieved that it didn't, which meant that he was really losing his mind. "For a hallucination, you sure look pretty real, buddy."

"_I know that you're really sad, and it's okay to miss others, especially your friends. But don't let your sadness, fear or guilt overcome you._" Chip replied gently.

"Isn't that what you said at Starlight Carnival?" Sonic asked. "That I should be myself?"

He then paused, and chuckled sheepishly, scratching his cheek. "Who am I kidding? I'm talking to myself with voices in my head. I'm really crazier than usual. Still, better you than the giant fuzz-ball that still wants to eat me, even mentally."

"_Sonic, it's more than just what think. It's not your mind that is making you see me or Sun's cursed form._" The hallucination of Light Gaia informed, much to the blue hedgehog's confusion.

"Huh? Say what?" Sonic blinked. "Now I'm really lost."

The hallucination of his friend shook his head, saying. "_You're speaking with your heart, communicating with it. Your heart is in a conflict of it's own, because of your emotions, and you should know who is responsible for triggering it, making it as though what you see whenever the Werehog or I appear look and sound and even feel real._"

An awkward pause.

"Um, you're saying that it's my heart that's been playing tricks on me and not my mind? How can that be?" The blue hedgehog shrugged, now even more confused, yet at the same time feeling better. "Everybody knows that our heads sometimes make us go nuts in seeing or hearing things, whenever we're sad or afraid."

"_Both your heart and your mind are speaking with each other, connecting and making you mentally fight as well as physically from time to time, either to help you or try and destroy you._" Chip told him, and that made Sonic's stomach drop.

"Whoa, whoa! Are you sayin' that the I'm fighting with myself and the Werehog side is trying to get me to commit suicide!? NO WAY! I don't wanna do that! I've been trying to stop myself _from_ getting killed!" Sonic protested in fright, crossing his arms in an 'no-way' gesture. "Seriously, I can't die yet! If I do, then Eggman will win for sure!"

He imagined Chip sweatdropping at this, before the hallucination rephrased sheepishly. "_S-Sorry. That didn't come out right. What I mean is that your heart is reacting so strongly to your emotions that it's making you see things more clearly, like now for example. Like Mobius, your heart is in a state of breaking and repairing itself, and it is making you hallucinate this way._"

Sonic gulped nervously, admitting. "No offense, but that doesn't make me feel any better. If you're saying that my heart is shattering into pieces like the planet did, how come I don't feel any pain at all other than missing you and..."

The blue hedgehog trailed off, lowering his gaze as he finished. "...The idea of missing all these aliens? I mean, it's not the first time I had to say goodbye to a friend I wouldn't be seeing again while I'm still alive and I'm in no hurry to lose anyone or die yet. But...it's the idea of not seeing anyone again even in the afterlife is what gets to me...just saying goodbye for a very long time is still sad, though."

"_Only you know the answer in your heart, Sonic._" Chip told him softly. "_You always did. Don't let Beach-Ball-Man change that._"

"Me and Eggman?" Sonic whispered, only to softly gasp when his friend dissolved into green light...at least in his vision, and he ended up reaching out for him. "Chip, wait! Don't leave me! Chip!"

He ran a couple of steps, only to stop as he was mindful of the cliff and while he knew that he was even more crazy, Sonic was still desperate for his friend, even just an illusion of him, to stay. He whispered more tearfully, "No...don't leave me. Please, come back. I miss you...! Chip...I love you, Chip. I love you."

Silence followed along with the sounds of metal and cluttering behind him, and the gentle wind breezing through the grass and flowers, and through out the horizon. The blue hedgehog could only gaze at where his friend had faded away, gazing at Mobius where deep within the real Chip was sleeping, along with the very slowly healing Dark Gaia.

_"I'll never forget you. I'll be here by you, always. As part of the earth you tread."_

The same parting words echoed in his mind once more as more tears stung his eyes, one sliding free. As he thought about what he heard, what the hallucination of Chip was trying to tell him, Sonic muttered to himself. "Only I know the answer in my heart? What does that mean? How can my heart be playing tricks on me if it's not my mind like it should be?"

He then gasped softly in realization as he remembered how all of these hallucinations began in the first place, the first being his fears of the Werehog despite the real monster being gone for two months.

* * *

_"WOAAAH!" Sonic screamed as he was now trapped in the massive grasp and lifted off the platform. He struggled to wiggle himself free from the tight grip that was crushing him to death. But when he made to glare at the robot holding him captive, he gasped as for a split second, his mind's vision transformed the robot into something horribly familiar, one that he wished he wouldn't see in reality again._

_The realistic flash-back of a giant Werehog from his nightmares grinning evilly and hungrily before him and Sonic, knowing that he was suddenly hallucinating, thought he felt the cold skin of the Werehog's hands holding him tightly. The blue hedgehog shivered, his heart leaping into his throat and falling into his stomach. He tried to mentally shake off the image, but it somehow refused to go away, as though this situation was making him terrified. Granted, Sonic had been held in giant hands before, mostly from Eggman's giant robots like when just moments before the world was split apart._

_But it was somehow different as even though he no longer had that little bit of darkness inside him, and the Werehog was gone, it wasn't something Sonic could easily get over, no matter how hard he tried. Breathing scaredly, he squeezed his eyes shut, the fear really getting to him._

_"AAAAAAHHH! LEMME GO!" He screamed._

* * *

"Oh...I get it. Because Eggman did both this situation and what happened two months ago, even if he wasn't around in it started, his presence was still the trigger of it, because he's what caused the mess with the Werehog thing in the first place." Sonic muttered to himself, placing a hand to his chest, his heart beating in rhythm.

He then sighed, "Two months is a long time, but between then and now, it's still not that long. Everything he does is always a bad reminder of all the bad things he's ever done and I'll definitely be remembering this for a long time, both the good and the evil."

While he still had no clue about why his heart was doing this or whether he was indeed even more crazy, one thing Sonic was certain of, Eggman had really gotten under his skin and he was admittedly still angry with him for what he did to Mobius, and he was definitely furious with him with what he was doing to the Wisps and holding their planet hostage...all for ruling the entire universe itself by usage of power and mind-control.

"No. Chip's right. I won't let Eggman change the way how I think, and I won't let him change the way of the universe either." Sonic told himself, his expression full of determination as he glanced at the sky once more. "It's up to me to stop him like I always do. I won't give up!"

Determined to put an end to this crisis once and for all, and wiping away his tears, Sonic spun around and raced off to reach the generator which was much closer than he knew. Whatever challenges that lie ahead, he will be ready for it.

* * *

**A/N: There will be ideas I will borrow from your suggestions and there will be those that I may not, just so you guys know. Sorry that this chapter had once again a lack of action, but hopefully the next one will make it up for it.**

**See you later!**


	10. Chapter 10: Determination and Comfort

**Author's Note: Fair warning. This chapter may be a teeny bit dark and quite emotional. So, I suggest you bring in a box of tissues, just in case.**

**I do not own Sonic The Hedgehog. All rights belong to Sega.**

* * *

_Chapter 10: Determination and Comfort._

"And there's the generator!" Sonic proclaimed as he finally reached his destination a little while later, after freeing even more aliens and having a bit of a less pleasent greeting with another pink Wisp, but luckily a green Wisp and a blue Wisp he saved beforehand came to his rescue before it could attack. It was at the near far end of a small canyon that would've been a lot easier to find if it hadn't been for Eggman's construction site that was covering up the world.

The blue hedgehog shook his head, muttering, "Seems like these things are getting harder and harder to find."

'_The sooner I get rid of this thing, the quicker the aliens' home will be free from this park._' He thought to himself, just as a massive shake nearly made him lose his balance as he tried out while attempting not to fall. "Whoa-whoa!"

Immediately hearing a huge sound of heavy metal, Sonic turned to the direction to his left of where it was coming from, quickly expecting it to be yet another giant killer robot directly linked to the generator. What he hadn't been expecting was an oddly familiar but recoloured giant robot and he was suddenly feeling a case of deja vu; the giant Ferris Wheel, except that this one was green in a few places and it was known as the Refresinator.

Despite the deju vu and scary memories, Sonic refused to let it get to him and instead was looking forward in taking out this piece of junk. While he knew that Eggman was known for reusing many of his robot model designs, the blue hedgehog had no idea why the evil scientist thought it was a good idea in reusing the Ferris Wheel.

"I know for a fact that these things are getting harder and harder to beat! But where's the fun in that if these battles aren't challenging?" Sonic said with a smirk, getting ready to attack when Eggman's intercome blared to life once more, much to his annoyance.

"_**Please remember all planets in Eggman's Incredible Interstellar Amusement Park are, as far as you know, wholly owned properties of Eggman Enterprises and it's subsidairies. All unauthorized photography, video reproduction, or shutting down of generators is strictly prohibited. Thank you!**_" The PA recording echoed.

Sonic groaned while impatiently stretching his legs as he tried to block out his enemy's obnoxious voice, but more he heard it, the more he felt like screaming in anger.

"None of these planets belong to you, fat-face. And they never will...!" The blue hedgehog grunted under his breath as he stretched, before sighing to calm his nerves and regained his confidence and determination.

He was going to prove it. The blue hedgehog owed all of his new friends that, and their freedom. The Wisps' lives and safety depended on him, as he is the only one how can save them, their home and...their mother, he realized. He still hasn't seen her, or else Yacker wouldn't have been leading the other aliens earlier. He had to find her sooner or later, and hoped that she and the other captured Wisps hadn't lost all of their Hyper-Go-Ons and turned into...whatever they end up turning that Eggman knew of.

Finally in position, he stood up straight with narrowed eyes.

"_Eggman!_ I AM going to save this planet, and I AM going to free these aliens!" Sonic shouted as he pointed at the sky, while careful on not to get side-tracked by his opponent in front of him. "And no copyright law in the universe is going to stop me! And you can forget about mind-controlling everybody, too, once I'm done beating you again!"

Already knowing what to do, Sonic dashed forward and leaped high, using his spin dash to help increase his speed and agility and before long landed within the wheel. He glared up bravely with a smirk as the Refresinator gave a metallic roar that was more like whining screeching metal.

The blue hedgehog gave a fake yawn as he said to it, "You done screaming? I'm falling asleep."

The response he got was it fire blue lasers at him, and the young hero quickly jumped and leaped from one platform to another as he avoided in getting hit. He thought about using the same strategy he used with Rotataron considering they were the same model, though with the lasers seemingly all over the place, it made things just a little bit harder. But he wasn't about to give up when the first had just started. Plus with his speed, he can handle this. So the blue hedgehog decided to try it out and ran around and around within the wheel, dodging the lasers.

But when he was just moments from leaping off and using his spin dash into the giant robot's eye, to his shock it sealed itself within a sharp metal casing and fired even more lasers that forced him to dodge and leap off, jumping from one platform that suddenly had sharp razor blades poke out from the metal balls to another when they got a little too close for comfort, forcing him to land back to where he started and hidden himself underneath a platform and ducked when the razors almost sliced him.

"Well, I'm awake now. But you're gonna have to do better than that, Rolly-Polly!" Sonic remarked with a taunt, deciding to try again now that he knew what to watch out for. He ran again and this time waited until the eye's shield opened up before he curled up tightly and launched himself straight into it, hitting it a few times while several screws flew out.

As the blue hedgehog landed safely on one of the platforms when the razors withdrew themselves, the giant robot gave out a metallic monstrous roar of pain, the eye even more loose than it already was. Looking for another way to attack again, a capsule caught the corner of his eye on another platform to his right. Nodding to himself, and quickly sensing the Refresintor's giant hand reaching out for him, Sonic jumped quickly to avoid it either slamming him or grabbing him, either one which he didn't want.

"Sorry, pal, but your brother or cousin or whatever already had captured me! Not gonna let that happen again." Sonic informed before tugging both his ears while sticking his tongue out, and then quickly dodged more lasers but was almost hit right at the left foot which made him yelp in alarm and almost fall off. It was then that the left hand towered over him and he looked up just in time to see it quickly approach.

Gasping in shock, the blue hedgehog sped and jumped out of the way just in time as it grabbed the platform where he'd been, crushing it in it's grasp. Sighing in relief at the close call, he quickly made it to the platform where the capsule of the captured alien was, seeing that it was another pink spiky one. From the looks of it's glare quickly told him that like the first three pink Wisps, this one didn't think he was to be trusted.

"No, no, no! I'm not your enemy!" Sonic quickly waved his hands, frantically pointing at the robot. "This thing's out to harm me since he's working for the guy you know as Baldy Nosehair! I know Yacker! I promised to help him-WATCH OUT!"

He had to scream the last part as the Refresinator fired another laser, and the blue hedgehog quickly grabbed the Wisp before leaping out of the way, narrowly avoiding in getting hit along with the alien who, protesting in being grabbed at first, saw that as Sonic kept on dodging the lasers and even the giant hands that attempted to grab them, he was really telling the truth. Plus when he said that he knew Yacker and had promised to help, it's eye widened in surprise as the words sank in. Plus how he freed it and was risking his life to save it quickly changed it's mind about him.

As soon as Sonic landed on another platform, he glared up at the robot as he exclaimed to the giant robotic monster. "I was talking here, you oversized Eye-ball!"

The robot responded by sending down the razors again as well as lasers and it's hands all in full force, causing the blue hedgehog with the Wisp in his arms to leap again as quickly as possible, only for one of the lasers to aim directly towards the duo. Sonic turned around and jumped again while using his body to shield the pink alien, but was hit on the back of his left shoulder and screamed in agony by the burning sensation before being sent plummeting towards the bottom of the wheel. The Wisp's eye widened in horror and disbelief that the blue hedgehog had protected it and that he was hurt.

Knowing what to do as it narrowed it's eye with determination, the pink alien dissolved into energy and merged into his body. Sonic felt dazed from the mixture of his injury and the power of the Hyper-Go-On within him.

"SPIKES!" He shouted just before he hit the floor, transforming once again and spin dashed up, avoiding the lasers and razors, and by the time he reached the eye, it's shield opened up which allowed him to hit it full on.

Sonic kept on going until the Refresinator couldn't handle it anymore. By the time the blue hedgehog landed safely on the bottom and returning to normal with the Wisp coming out of him, the giant killer robot was breaking apart with more already loose bolts falling out and the razors and lasers now being rendered useless, even the hands were creaking and unable to reach out to him. He turned to the Pink Wisp who nodded to him and he smiled.

"Thanks, little guy! I'll take it from here!" The blue hedgehog told it, before turning his attention to his opponent once more and leaped up the platforms once again, karate kicking and punching the metal eye and then performed the finishing move of another spin dash, hitting it several times before it was finally smashed into pieces.

With that done, he landed safely on the ground just as the robot finally groaned in defeat and exploded into several pieces, making more of the mess than the previous ones he fought earlier. It landed just a few feet in front of the blue hedgehog who smirked, quite pleased with the results before wincing in pain while placing a hand over his wounded shoulder. The pink Wisp that helped him hovered over with a surprisingly worried expression.

"I'm okay. Just a scratch." He informed it dismissively. It would heal in time, and he had worst injuries before.

The Wisp shook it's head however, clearly not convinced. Before Sonic could assure it that's fine, it carefully removed his hand from his shoulder which suffered a badly burned mark, which the sight of it made him wince again a little that he took a harder hit than he thought. Then the alien held out a hand to the wound as it began to glow in pink and white aura. The blue hedgehog's eyes widened before he found himself glowing in different colours, much to his surprise and then felt the pain on his shoulder become less and less and glanced at it, stunned that his injury was healing to the point that by the time the alien and Sonic himself stopped glowing, the burn mark from the laser was gone like it was never there.

"Whoa..." He murmured in awe, amazed that even one alien's power could not only heal the injuries of the other aliens, but that they could heal other species as well, including himself. He touched his shoulder again and gently rubbed it, beyond amazed before looking up at the Wisp who nodded, proud of it's work.

Sonic couldn't help but smile. "Wow, that was amazing! Thank you."

Happy to have helped him twice just as he had freed it and protected it, the pink alien beamed and nuzzled it's head on his cheek affectionately, making the blue hedgehog laugh. Once it stopped, the alien twirled around before taking it's leave, and Sonic waved it a goodbye, relieved that it trusted him and grateful that it helped him and healed his injury.

Hearing the sound of the generator shutting off, the blue hedgehog turned to the now destroyed robot and approached it with a sastisfied grin, proud of himself and the Wisp that this was much easier to handle now and he felt like he got his confidence back. Chip's advice really helped a lot, or maybe he realized that he could handle his fears once it puts his mind and heart into it, his determination getting stronger and stronger throughout this adventure. Some othe pieces of the robot even hit the generator itself which would need repairs that would never happen.

"Wow! Sometimes I even impress myself!" Sonic exclaimed, his smirk widening. "For a second there, I wasn't sure I was going to pull it off."

He paused, before pausing as he continued to the destroyed robot, as though it would hear him. "Oh, who am I kidding? We both knew how this would end!"

"Uh..." Tails' voice began awkwardly which followed the young kit's footsteps, causing Sonic to flinch and stand on the tips of his shoes and his quills to stick up, slowly turning his head in embarrassment and worry while his little brother continued after he paused in his steps. "Are you talking to the broken robot who can't hear you?"

'_Uh, oh. Busted._' Sonic thought to himself as he had been caught, having hoped that no one would see him being this crazy. He then turned to face him and said firmly while trying to hide his embarrassment. "Uh, maybe. That's between me and the robot."

He then pointed out with some confidence and dignity he still had, "See, the important thing is, the alien planet is free!"

Tails facepalmed himself over his best friend's/big brother's craziness and then replied, "Absolutely!"

An awkward pause.

"So, we can forget about the whole talking to a dead robot thing, right?" Sonic asked hopefully, scratching the back of his head sheepishly.

"Nope." The eight year old fox shook his head, trying to hide his own smirk.

"I knew you'd say that." The fifteen year old hedgehog grumbled, rolling his eyes and hanging his head with a sweatdrop.

"Well, come on. I've seen you save the day a lot of times, but I've never seen you talk to a pile of metal." Tails pointed out, a chuckle escaping a second later.

"Touché." Sonic replied, slumping halfway low to the ground, sulking even more. He then thought to himself, '_Well, at least he hasn't caught me hallucinating. THAT would be a total embarrassment in and on itself, and then everybody will worry about me 24/7._'

The moment he thought of that, however, he then quickly remembered that someone had caught him hallucinating, which made him mentally flinch in realization and horror; that person was Rouge.

_"It's not a hard guess on what's going on in your head, Sonic." Rouge rolled her eyes, placing her hands on her hips. "You're hallucinating something, and that something has terrified you a lot. The thankful part is that you know that you're out of it right now."_

'_Great. I didn't even tell her not to say anything about it. Now everybody's gonna realize I'm crazier than usual._' The blue hedgehog groaned in his mind. Thought that alone made his stomach drop, considering how she works for G.U.N. '_Oh no! What if she tells everyone? What will they say? What'm I gonna do?_'

"Sonic? Are you okay?" Tails' voice snapped the blue hedgehog out of his thoughts.

"Why wouldn't I be?" Sonic asked, quirking an eyebrow while half-hoping that his concerns weren't noticed on his face. Though given how his best friend was looking at him worriedly, he realized that he'd been caught again.

"You look kind of panicked, like something's on your mind." The young fox stated.

Great. Busted again.

Sonic had considered on telling his friend that he's fine, but then he remembered how he'd hidden the fact that he'd been so scared of the Werehog and only revealed it to Shadow, and that he promised himself not to hide any more secrets of his feelings even though he had tried very hard to move on. Now he realized that he'd been hiding his worries yet again, and even worse, the hallucinations made him think more about his previous adventure since he missed Chip so much and was still so afraid of the Werehog.

All because of Eggman and his horrible plot in using the gentle Wisps for taking over Mobius...no, the Universe now. It was just one world that needed saving, it was all worlds. Sonic had to now be the defender of the universe itself. He's hidden his hallucinations that were distracting him, he realized, and Rouge is the first to half-catch on.

It was time to tell the truth. Whether he liked it or not, and he could only hope for the best.

Sighing, Sonic adverted his gaze to the side, scratching the back of his head as he admitted, "A lot's been on my mind all day. Ever since the fight with the Ferris Wheel, even during the fight, I...this is gonna sound really crazy and like I've been losing my mind, but...I've...I've been seeing a lot of hallucinations."

"Huh!? Hallucinations of what?" Tails exclaimed, now even more worried. He'd never known his best friend/older brother to be hallucinating before, and he wondered what could be the cause now.

"Of the Werehog...and Chip. The former is the first. I saw him when that first giant killer robot I fought today caught me, before one of the aliens that uses the power of laser saved me. I was scared...I didn't know what happened that caused that thing to appear in my head." The teenage hedgehog explained, nervously but forced himself to keep going.

"And...you saw Chip, too?" His little brother asked, carefully and in concern.

Sonic nodded, "Yeah, back when I landed in that giant ice cream. Funny thing is, the Werehog in my head still wants to eat me and make me give up, whereas Chip was giving me support like you and Yacker do, and in random. Actually, the hallucination of the giant monster was the reason why I ended up falling into that giant blueberry pie in the first place, 'cause I was so freaked out. Chip on the other hand has been giving me encouraging words, even though I know that he's a hallucination too."

Tails looked like he was about to say something in concern or panic, to which the blue hedgehog quickly added while shaking his hands to try and reassure him. "But I've been getting better in controlling and ignoring most of the hallucinations, really! Okay, um, Rouge did kind of catch me hallucinating, but she doesn't know what I've been hallucinating of yet, but hey, I managed to ignore the overgrown mutant hairball before I met up with you, and...another crazy thing, Chip gave me some advice on why I'm hallucinating, or vice versa."

"What kind of advice?"

"Not sure what it means, but he said something about my heart reacting to how much I miss him and how...how I'm still scared of the Werehog even though he's gone, that I'm able to see them both like they're actually there. That like what happened back at home, my heart is strangely breaking up into pieces and I'm the only one who knows the answer to that. Not sure what yet, but I do have one clue which is pretty much obvious since both this situation and the last one have only one thing in common." Sonic said.

"Eggman?" Tails guessed knowingly.

"Who else but Baldy McNosehair?" The blue hedgehog shrugged, adding with some determination returning. "He's a bad reminder like a bad smell. Everything he does makes me so angry, even though saving Shadow is one exception, but I won't let him change the way how I think, and there's no way I'm gonna let him take over Mobius, or Yacker's home and family and friends, or the universe itself. One way or another, I'm gonna stop him like I always do! And no hallucination of a monster wanting to eat me is gonna make me stop!"

"I'm really glad you haven't given up."

Sonic smiled a little. "You know me. I never quit."

Tails nodded, before asking. "But...why didn't you say anything?"

His smile fading to sadness and guilt, the blue hedgehog sighed. "'Cause I didn't want you to worry or think that I'm just as crazy as I am now. I know; I didn't tell you like I didn't tell you how scared I was whenever Sun turned into that Werehog form that eventually formed a mind of it's own."

It was then that he realized what the Werehog in his nightmare had meant.

_"__**You have done it again, Sonic.**__"_

Was that it? Was it because he didn't tell anyone about his current problem?

"So...you don't trust me or anyone else?" His best friend asked sadly.

That instantly broke his heart and shocked him.

"What!? No! It's not that I don't trust you!" Sonic protested. "I've always trusted you! I just..."

He trailed off when he saw Tails' expression with a bit of doubt and it made him feel even more guilty. Sighing again, the blue hedgehog continued, "Maybe it's because...I can't seem to trust myself anymore."

Eyes widening in realization, Sonic lowered his gaze as he finally understood his problem; his mistakes in the past, and not knowing what has happened here, to Yacker and all of the Wisps.

"No...I know I can't trust myself anymore. Tails, I..." The blue hedgehog paused again, this time struggling not to cry as just when he thought he gotten his confidence again for beating the giant robot of this generator, he realized that it was only temporary. "...Tails, I'm so sorry!"

Unable to look at his little brother like this, Sonic ran as fast he could past him, blindly running in any direction to try and calm down and feeling terrible for ignoring his best friend calling out to him.

"Sonic, wait!" Tails cried out, reaching out for him. Seeing his best friend act this way, while he felt hurt for not being told of what was happening to him, the eight year old kit understood that it was to not make him worried, that Sonic was trying to look out for him like he always had, and the fact that Eggman was a constant reminder of many horrible things didn't make things any easier.

Not only that, the young kit realized that he'd finally crossed the line. He pushed his best friend's limits of trying to not be overcome by his guilt, and now the blue hedgehog felt he couldn't trust himself.

"...I'm so sorry, Sonic...! I didn't mean what I said." Tails whispered tearfully, and soon began sobbing in guilt, fearing that he just lost his older brother forever. Then, realizing that he had to apologize quickly before it was too late, he looked up ahead and quickly spun his tails to try and catch up to him before he went too far. "SONIC! Wait for me!"

* * *

Sonic kept on randomly running through where he came from, and even unknowingly found a shortcut and an easier road, smashing away left over robots that he missed, and freeing more aliens but in guilt just continued running, leaving the grateful and friendly Wisps in confusion and he felt even worse, but he couldn't find it in his heart to even look at them or even talk to them.

All the while his conversation with his best friend/little brother echoed and repeated in his mind, over and over again. The fact that he was crazy just made things worse for him, just when he had trusted Chip's advice to be himself. But how can he, when he couldn't trust himself anymore? It ached his heart, and the blue hedgehog didn't know what to do or how to fix it. Eventually he paused to a stop deep within a part of the construction site which blocked out whatever light there was left outside.

"...Chip...I'm sorry. I don't know what to do...I don't understand myself...!" Sonic tearfully whispered. "So much for not letting Eggman get to me. Now I just lost all of my friends...!"

"_**YOU SEE? YOU LET EVERYONE DOWN, LITTLE HEDGEHOG.**_"

Gasping at that hallucinated voice echoing in his mind that sounded so real that it was like it was behind him, Sonic felt his heart stop for a moment. To make things worse, something big and wet dropped from above and landed just in front of him. When he looked to see what it was, it was a large puddle of...

'_D-D-Drool!?_' He thought in horror, quivering slightly while trying to remain calm. The mental sight of the thickish, slimy and disgusting water-like liquid that looked so real made him take a couple steps back, before slowly looking up to see the Werehog towering over him, and behind him as he realized. The huge monster let out a soft, and hungry growl, breathing shallowly with it's mouth open, it's giant tongue visible and it's fangs and sharp teeth just itching for hedgehog blood.

"You're kidding me...!" Sonic muttered, frightened. He had thought he'd conquered this hallucination earlier. Then the blue hedgehog realized that his guilt had made this thing come back with a vengeance.

"_**GIVE IT UP, SONIC.**_" The Werehog hissed, it's mouth watering as it gazed down at the terrified blue hedgehog who tried to ignore the hallucination. "_**ALLOW YOUR ANGER, LUST FOR THESE ALIENS' POWER, FEAR AND GUILT CONSUME YOU...AND ALLOW ME TO SHRED YOU FOR YOUR BLOOD, AND CRUSH YOUR BONES!**_"

"No! I won't do what you want me to do!" Sonic argued with it while he silently pleaded for this to stop. "I don't want the aliens' Hyper-Go-Ons! I don't want them to die! All I want is Mobius to be safe and free, and same with the aliens and their planet! I promised Yacker!"

"_**YOU MAY HAVE FREED THEIR PLANET, BUT YOU HAD DECIDED TO WASTE YOUR TIME AND NOT GO OUT TO FIND EGGMAN, MEANING THAT YOU ARE THE SOURCE OF THIS PATHETIC AMUSEMENT PARK.**_" The Werehog sneered, slowly reaching it's hand down to the blue hedgehog who shook his fist, trying to ignore the haunting words.

'_No..._' He thought, but he couldn't help but half-wonder that maybe he had been selfish and not carhing as much. But Sonic had wanted a break and Eggman had been quiet. Besides, how was he to know where the evil doctor was?

_**"IT WAS YOU WHO HAS BROUGHT THE FEAR OF THESE ALIENS BY ALLOWING HIM TO CAPTURE THEM AND USE THEIR HYPER-GO-ONS, AND YOUR LITTLE FOX FRIEND SACRIFICING HIMSELF...BECAUSE OF YOUR CARELESSNESS.**_"

'_No...!_' Sonic attempted to try harder, but the words kept on coming and he knew that he was at the losing end of the hallucination. Doing so was giving him a headache. He desperately thought about what he should really be doing, wishing for this to stop. Unfortunately, he knew that the Werehog was right; he almost lost Tails because he was careless. Like he had been careless when the blue Wisp got hurt. He'd been careless being here in this world.

He then thought of Chip, and while his friend was still asleep, the hallucination of him would be much of comfort.

"Chip...help me!" Sonic whispered pleadingly.

The Werehog simply laughed as it's hand was right above the blue hedgehog who collapsed onto his knees, placing his hands on his head. "_**HE WILL NOT COME, BECAUSE HE IS FURIOUS WITH YOU. GIVING YOU LIES AND MAKING YOU FEEL LIKE HE IS HELPING YOU. YOUR FRIENDS ARE ANGRY WITH YOU, MY LITTLE HEDGEHOG. ONCE THEY FIND OUT WHAT YOU HAVE DONE, ONCE THE WORLD DISCOVERS YOUR CRIMES, EVERYONE WILL HATE YOU. THEY WILL HUNT YOU DOWN, TO PUT YOU IN PRISON, AND THEN YOU WILL BE ALL ALONE. GIVE THEM UP NOW, SO YOU WON'T BE HURT IN THAT FUTURE.**_"

"No! NO! That's not true! You're the one who's givng me lies! I'm trying to fix everything up! Just...Just leave me alone! Leave my friends out of this!" Sonic argued desperately as he tried not to let the words get to him, but it was becoming obvious that maybe the Werehog was right...and that everyone will hate him and not give him a second chance. "Why are you in my head anyway?"

"_**BECAUSE YOU BROUGHT ME BACK AFTER I HAD CEASED TO BE. YOUR SCENT OF DELICIOUS FEAR HAS REVIVED MY SOUL...AND ENTERED YOUR HEART, WHERE ONLY YOU CAN SEE ME.**_" The Werehog laughed evilly, and moaned in delight as it licked it's lips hungrily. "_**I AM NOT A HALLUCINATION, HEDGEHOG. I AM A GHOST, ONE TO FOREVER HAUNT YOU!**_"

Sonic's heart froze as he softly gasped, his eyes widening in horror. Could it really be true? Was he seeing...the ghost of the Werehog? No. That's not it. That place at Sweet Mountain earlier had been a hallucination, and so had the hole in the float/battle ship...Chip said as much that he and the Werehog were hallucinations...from his heart.

"Noooooo!" Sonic screamed, breathing too quickly. "Go away! Get outta me! You're not...you're not real! You're...you're...!"

"_**STOP DENYING MY EXISTANCE, AND ACCEPT **__**YOUR FATE!**_" The Werehog bellowed, roaring as it then dove with it's mouth wide open to engulf Sonic who, gasping as he looked up quickly, quickly rolled out of the way, narrowly avoiding in being swallowed whole.

Standing up and overcome by fear, the blue hedgehog screamed and ran deeper into the construction site to try and get away from the monster who began chasing after him. He didn't know where he was going, but he hoped that it was to the surface, for sunlight to make this nightmare disappear. His fear and guilt only grew, and he continued pleading for the hallucination of Chip to appear. Unfortunately he ended up taking the wrong turn and found himself in a dead end, and skid to stop.

Terrified, Sonic looked for another way to get through, but the dead end was only big enough to fit himself, and the Werehog's head. It was too high for him to run up and the ceiling was too close for comfort. This was like his first nightmare during his previous adventure where the Werehog had captured him within a cave...and then swallowed him. He turned around and gasped as the hallucination, briefly forgeting that this wasn't real, caught up to him. Whimpering in fear, Sonic stepped away until his back touched the cold, metal wall which left him cornered.

"No...No, please! This isn't real!" The blue hedgehog cried out softly, sliding to the floor as he tried to get as far away as possible.

"_**IT'S OVER, LITTLE HEDGEHOG. YOU BELONG TO ME NOW!**_" The Werehog declared, laughing evilly before moaning in delight, licking his lips once more. "_**I CAN ALREADY TASTE YOU, MY DELICIOUS TREAT.**_"

Sonic felt even more frightened and thought for a moment that maybe this is the ghost of the Werehog and that eating him, or rather eating his very soul would revive it which would only make things worse. He gasped louder as the giant monster leaned forward with it's jaws wide open and he could see the inside of the mouth, all the sharp fangs and teeth, all of the saliva, right down the throat where the blue hedgehog was convinced that he would be ending going.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Sonic screamed, shielding himself with his arms while closing his eyes, bracing himself for his end. Just then when he thought that he was done for, at least mentally, there was a green flash of light that caused the Werehog to stop just inches before he could gobble him up, and then it was forced to lean back when it became too much for it.

"_Sonic! Don't let your guilt or fear overtake you! Believe in yourself!_"

Hearing that welcoming voice, Sonic slowly opened his eyes and lowered his arms, then gasped in as he was suddenly surrounded by white light, and while the Werehog was still there, the pleasent small figure of his dear friend hovered in front of him, glowing in the light of Light Gaia's power.

"Chip!" The blue hedgehog exclaimed in relief. "You saved me!"

The hallucination of Chip looked over his shoulder and nodded with a warm, comforting smile. "_I would never be angry with you, Sonic. Remember, only you know why you're seeing this, why your heart's in conflict. Be yourself, Sonic. Trust your friends that are still with you._"

While it was comforting, Sonic's heart ached at the reminder of what he said to Tails, and that he couldn't trust himself anymore. But the fact that his friends would worry about him...made him realize that it's because they cared, and that he didn't want them to worry because he loved them so much. He knew then, he'd have to face them and fully apologize and hope for the best. He had to really trust them.

"I got it. Thank you, Chip, buddy." He whispered, nodding.

"_**YOU MEDDLESOME FORGIVENESS!**_" The Werehog roared furiously, just as the light grew bright to the point of blinding Sonic who winced, squeezing his eyes shut once more...to which he found himself passing out.

* * *

"...Sonic...Sonic!"

Finding himself having passed for real, the next thing Sonic knew, upon hearing the welcoming, sweet but very worried voice call out his name, he was moaning as he slowly opened his eyes. Rather than the metal floor he expected to feel underneath him, he felt something very soft and comfortable underneath him, fresh and perfect to be used as a bed...like grass or flowers made just for him. He could even smell the fresh, beautiful scent of flowers fill his nose, the gentle breeze on his body.

As his blurry vision cleared, he saw Tails and Yacker, along with a couple of other Wisps hover over him worriedly. "Tails...Yacker...?"

He then gasped as memories of what happened came back instantly, and sat up quickly, startling his friends who leaned back a little. Looking around, Sonic realized that he wasn't inside the construction site anymore. Instead, he'd been lying on a makeshift bed made of the soft grass and strange alien-like flowers, surrounded by a thick forest of huge green tree roots from the giant flower-shaped trees, one which he and his friends were on in fact. He could make out a patch hole which, to his surprise was the early evening sky, turning from orange and pink to a shade of purple and slowly to dark blue, tale signs of stars beginning to shine.

As for the Wisps, they were all glowing as the day began to turn to night to make up the different colours of light like a festival or lights in a christmas tree. A beautiful sight within the already beautiful world if it hadn't been for Eggman's influence.

"Where am I?" Sonic asked in confusion.

"This is where Yacker and all the Wisps rest and play in." Tails answered as he was very relieved that his big brother was alright, before correcting himself sheepishly, rubbing the back of his head. "Well, one of their 'houses' at least."

"This is where you live?" The blue hedgehog asked the cute curl-headed alien who nodded, and in that response, he couldn't help but smile a little as he looked around again. "Wow...it's amazing."

He then blinked in realization and turned to his little brother. "What happened? How'd I end up there?"

"Well, see...um..." The young fox again, sighing in guilt as he explained. "After you ran off, I tried to follow you but got lost in Eggman's construction site. Then when I met up with Yacker and the other aliens, we heard you scream and when we found you, you were unconscious. So the Wisps used their powers to carry us here and we've trying to wake you up for the last ten minutes. You'd been out for half an hour."

Tails then lowered his head, tears beginning to develop once more as he tried not to cry, but was unable to do so. "I'm really sorry, Sonic. I didn't...I didn't mean to upset you...! Please don't hate me...!"

Watching his little brother cry broke Sonic's heart as full memories of their, well, not really an argument, but maybe a bit close enough, filled his mind as well as what happened, and the full embarrassment and guilt of having passed out during his hallucination episode that made him actually dream up of Chip saving his life from the Werehog covered him.

"No, Tails. It wasn't you." The blue hedgehog whispered, gently placing his hands on his best friend's shoulders. He then placed his forefinger and thumb under the young boy's chin to gently lift his head, making his lovable brother look at him. "I'm the one who should apologize. This whole thing is all my fault. If anyone other than Eggman is to blame for what happened back then and now, it's me."

"Sonic..." Tails whispered, tears still silently spilling as he sniffled.

"I thought that...I learned my lesson from two months ago...but now I see that I haven't learned a thing...and it's gotten even worse." Sonic continued, his own tears silently falling, and gazing down as he began sobbing himself. "I'm so sorry, guys...! I...I don't know what to do, anymore! Please forgive me...!"

"But...it's my fault that I brought up what happened...! I promised myself..." His best friend sniffled tearfully, crying himself. "I promised myself I wouldn't do that...that I'd try and cheer you up, like you always...like you always did for me...! It's not your fault!"

The blue hedgehog looked at him in shock, while the young fox continued, sobbing. "You're right...Eggman is a constant reminder of all the horrible things he's done...and I was convinced that he was changing when he really wasn't...I've been so useless lately...! I know that you don't want to worry...but I can't help it! I'll always...I'll always worry about you, even when you always come back okay! You're the only family I got, along with everybody else!"

"Oh, Tails...!" Sonic muttered, realizing how foolish he'd been into thinking that everyone, all of his friends, wouldn't worry about him. They would be worried about him not because they thought he couldn't do it or think any less of him. They worried because they cared about him...they loved him just as much he loved them. Friends and families would always worry about each other...well, most friends and families would, but still...

_"Be yourself, Sonic. Trust your friends that are still with you."_

'_My friends that are still with me...I can't believe that I've been missing Chip so much, it's like I felt so alone when I'm never alone, even when I go out on adventures by myself. Everyone that I've known before my last adventure...they're still with me, even in my heart. Chip is with me in my heart too...so is Shahra, and now Yacker and all of these aliens found a place in there as well...how could I have not accepted that? Everyone I care about so much...even friends I can't see anymore...they love me._' Sonic thought to himself as remembered what Chip in his dream had said.

"I guess...Eggman really got to both of us this time. If there's anybody to blame for messing with us, it's him." The blue hedgehog smiled tearfully, which made Tails look at him again. "I'm sorry, Tails. I guess I...I'm so used to being the role model and hero and cheering everybody up, I forgot what it was like for having others cheering me up whenever I felt so down or upset or even scared. It's really stupid of me to think that I'm almost invincible when I'm not. I'm just a hedgehog with the super-sonic speed, but I'm just as normal as everybody else...even you."

"Growing up is really tough." Tails muttered after a moment of silence as he had been stunned by his best friend's words, that he admitted what and how he really felt. "But then so is being a hero, huh?"

"Yeah, I guess this is sort like my first adventure in stopping Ro-butt-nik. I was so afraid of letting everybody down, that I wouldn't have anyone to go to. Sure I go on adventures by myself, but knowing that I have the best of friends and even making new friends who need my help or I can just meet and talk to always gives me comfort." Sonic nodded in agreement, and while he felt a bit embarrassed for revealing how he really felt, at the same time it put his mind and heart at ease, hiding his feelings for a long time to be the hero everybody else wanted having weighed him and he tried not to let it get to him.

Both his last adventure and his previous one had finally broken the shield he created for himself, and that was something he would have to fix up later on. But now...now he felt that he had to let it all out of his chest. At the same time, he had no regrets inside of him.

"Remember when we first met? Our very first adventure together?" He asked fondly.

"I remember it like it was only yesterday. The best day of my life." The eight year old kit replied, smiling a little just as fondly.

"Mine too." The blue hedgehog replied, while Yacker and the Wisps all around them looked all tearful as they listened and watched the conversation. "Sure I had friends back on South Island, but you were my first and very best friend who made me like I wasn't lonely anymore either. I wanted to go on adventures to see the world and I still do. But what I also wanted was a friend like you, someone who I can hang out with, laugh with, go on adventures with and play."

Sonic's smile became warmer as he remembered those wonderful days of his first adventure with Tails. "I told you before back then, little buddy. You became much more to me than my best friend during that journey. You're the little brother I never had, and always will be, even at the end of time itself. That'll never change."

"I always knew you were my big brother...!" Tails replied happily with more tears. "When we became friends, and then you told me that I was your little brother, I never felt lonely anymore. Even when you do go out, I knew you would come back and that you're always with me. Just like I always got your back."

"I know...I won't forget that. Not ever." Sonic nodded, then pulled his best friend into an emotional embrace to which Tails hugged him back, the two adoptive brothers silently shedding tears. Their everlasting bond, a bit scratched, but already healing like the scratch was never there, would never be broken.

Yacker and all of the Wisps around them silently shed emotional tears as the bond between Sonic and Tails reminded them of the bond they all shared with each other and their missing mother, and now seeing this made them all realize that they should do what the two Mobians had known; not take anything for granted. The love displayed was much like the love the aliens all had in each other.

The two brothers then slowly let go, and after a brotherly smile shared, they turned to the aliens and Sonic, feeling that he should adress to the Wisps, said. "Same goes for you guys. We're all friends, and, I have to admit, when this is all over, I'm really gonna miss you all. All of you and Tails reminded me of what's most important; sometimes friends do have to part ways, but a part of them always stay; inside our hearts."

Sonic scratched the back of his left ear, continuing. "I'm...not really good when it comes to saying goodbye, but it has to happen sooner or later. The best thing one can do is remember all the good times we all share, all the happy and fun, the adventures, and not let the sad times get to us, but we can't really look back at it and at the same time never forget either. It's not always easy, but it's part of life. Something that Baldy Nosehair doesn't get since all he cares about is himself and the only company he's got are his lousy robots."

There was no argument there, as Tails, Yacker and the Wisps all nodded after most of the aliens shared surprised glances.

"It's not easy being a hero either. But I'm not looking back at my mistakes anymore, I'm not giving up, and I'm not letting go of who I am or who my friends are." The blue hedgehog continued, his resolve, confidence and determination coming back. "I'll keep on running. I'll save the rest of your kind with the help from all of you and Tails from time to time when the situation calls for it. If we stand together, we can do this! Everything will be okay, and I'll find your mom, too. I promise."

It soothed the hearts of the Wisps as Yacker was the first to leap into Sonic's free arm, hugging him tearfully and happily, and the blue hedgehog couldn't help but chuckle emotionally, so he and Tails shared the embrace with their newest friend. They were soon joined by the aliens that Sonic had saved in the biggest group hug he ever had. It was then that Sonic knew even far apart, all of his friends, those who he can see from time to time, those who he may not see again, they were always with him, both on the outside and within.

No one can change that. Not even Eggman.

Especially Eggman.

"It's getting late and, um...the park's closed." Tails spoke up after a moment. "So we can't get to the next planet until tomorrow."

"Well, then I guess we'll be resting here for the night." Sonic shrugged, turning to Yacker and said. "If that's okay with you guys."

The aliens all nodded happily and a couple of aliens even flew in, holding out two pieces of fruit, the same ones that the blue hedgehog found for the pink alien earlier.

"Yacker and the aliens say that we're more than welcome." Tails translated after pulling out his translator again, adding. "And that they're giving us food to eat too."

"Awesome. Thanks!" The blue hedgehog replied, taking a piece while his best friend took the other. The two gazed at the oddly shaped fruit before taking an experimental bite each.

After a couple of chews, the two Mobians smiled happily and Sonic moaned in delight. "Mmm! It's sweet!"

"It's yummy!" Tails added.

"Thank you!" The two best friends chorused, and all of the Wisps cheered, pleased that their heroes and new friends were enjoying their food and danced around them. Sonic and Tails beamed at their friends.

They will certainly miss them, but the two brothers will always treasure this moment for the rest of their lives.

* * *

Meanwhile, back in his lab, Eggman was again monitoring the current statis of his secret cannon, as well as listening in on the reports from Decoe, Becoe and Bokkun, while in the background Orbot, who had finally located Cubot from Planet Wisp and attempted to fix his voice box once they all discovered that, during the cube-bot's meeting with Sonic, his voice chip was damaged after he stupidly crashed into the wall, was busy with his companion.

"Everything seems a-okay, sir." Decoe reported.

"Yeah, but that giant alien gives me the creeps each day. She, or it, or whatever keeps on changing and turning black and purple and scary." Becoe admitted, shuddering a bit in fear at the image he'd seen earlier.

"Yeah...it's kind of like when we first encountered that Werehog, isn't it?" The taller robot said, worriedly now that he thought about it.

"Only not hairy." Bokkun pointed out.

"Hmmm...It seems that the Mother alien is almost out of her Hyper-Go-On power. We will need to gather more aliens, and find another one who matches the power in their own way." Eggman muttered thoughtfully, stroking his mustache. "Further more, she must remain asleep and I cannot risk in the Amusement Park in being destoryed, or else a disaster will strike."

"A disaster?" Decoe and Becoe, and even Orbot who overheard and paused in his work, exclaimed in alarm.

"Is it that bad?" Bokkun asked, worriedly and curiously.

Eggman glared at the smallest robot and snapped angrily. "In her enraged state, she would destroy us all!"

A moment of frightening pause.

"That's bad." Bokkun said, gulping nervously.

"It's fine." The evil doctor waved dismissively, and more calmly. "As long as the main space station is working, there is no inconcievable way that it can be destroyed, plus I can't deny that her design gave me a new design for a mech, in case I do I have fight Sonic, and this time I WILL crush him like a pest that he is!"

"That's what you always say." Orbot remarked, while continuing his work with Cubot.

"Well, this time I mean it!" Eggman snapped in annoyance.

"You always say that too, doctor." Becoe pointed out.

"SILENCE!" Eggman shouted, scaring all of the robots including Orbot who nearly slipped his robotic hand into the wrong circuit in Cubot's voice chip which caused some wires to attach and then the hatch to close, as the stupidist robot also jumped and then spoke again...

In yet another annoying voice.

"By heavens, doctor-a! Did you have to be so loud-a?" Cubot asked, now speaking in an italian voice, much to everyone's bewilderment.

"Oooh! No, please! Anything but italian! I hate italian!" Eggman groaned, faceplanting himself into the dashboard, banging his head and pounding it as though he was having a bad day.

"Would that include-a pizza and spagetti-a?" Cubot asked stupidly, only for Orbot to quickly open the hatch and fiddle with the voice chip again, making his companion silent once more before things got any worse.

"Um...back on the subject with the Mother Alien..." Becoe said nervously to try and get the weird situation off Eggman's mind. "If she does wake up, wouldn't the Chaos Emeralds stop her?"

"YOU IDIOT!" Eggman snapped, scaring the robots again as he quickly glared up at the grey robot. "The only ones capable of harnessing the positive energy of the Emeralds are Sonic and Shadow, and I am not about to put my life on the line on that blue hedgehog!"

"But didn't you already take them for the mech?" Decoe asked, curiously.

"That's for in case for emergency if that brat steals the fuel that I'll be using against him! Since he has somehow found a way to harness those powers within himself and then letting them go, which is a waste as far as I'm concerned, I can find a way to use it against him!" Eggman pointed out.

"Always good to have a back-up plan." Bokkun said thoughtfully, impressed.

The evil scientist chuckled, "Yes, I know. Bokkun, since you have the experience of back-up plans and cheering, I want you to be the chief of the Bucket O' Sushi resturant."

"Really!?" Bokkun exclaimed excitedly, and then cheered, "YES! Bucket O' Sushi, here I come!"

"In the meantime, you two keep an eye on the Mother Alien and record any more changes, especially since she and most of her off-spring are already becoming Nega-Wisps." Eggman continued.

"Yes, doctor!" Decoe and Becoe saluted.

"Good." He responded, before yawning. "Well, it's getting late. Time for some sleep."

"Have a good night, Dr. Eggman!" Decoe, Becoe and Bokkun said in unison, before taking their leave, with left Eggman with Orbot and the still-being-fixed Cubot. Though the red and black robot paused when he heard what the doctor had said.

"Wait, you're letting Bokkun run the restaraunt at the water planet? Don't Becoe and Decoe have the cooking programs." Orbot asked incredulously.

"Why would I waste good food on people who are about to be mind-controlled?" Eggman scoffed, smirking.

Orbot stared at him, dumbfounded as he pointed out. "Still though, I don't think Bokkun knows anything about cooking. Does he even know sushi has fish in it?"

"...Sushi has fish?" The evil man asked, in confusion in realization.

An awkward pause.

"I...think I need to make another announcement." Eggman admitted, sheepishly before standing up and talking out of the room himself.

"...I think he needs to travel the world more often." Orbot thought to himself awkwardly.

Apparently even Eggman didn't know anything about Sushi.

* * *

**A/N: I want to think you readers/reviewers for the suggestions of this chapter. It helped out a lot! I'm not a fan of Sushi myself, but I have made some once when I was younger along with my sister.**

**See you later!**


	11. Chapter 11: Why is it always water?

**Author's Note: We have finally reached the world where Sonic will have the most problems; the Aquarium Park. Well, a bit of it, anyway. ;^_^**

**To Snake Screamer: You're welcome. Thank YOU for coming up with the Sushi ideas!**

**Happy reading!**

**I do not own Sonic The Hedgehog. All rights belong to Sega.**

* * *

_Chapter 11: "Why is it always water?"_

Later that night back on Planet Wisp, the construction site, now robot-less, was silent. Everything was quiet and everyone was now fast asleep within the peaceful and beautiful world. In the woods, many aliens were sleeping in either tree branches or in a group all curled up in a most adorable way. Among them were Sonic and Tails who were sleeping on the grass patch, the latter using his twin tails as a blanket and a pillow, while the former was sprawled and softly snoring.

For once neither one had any bad dreams. The blue hedgehog though was having a very pleasant dream; one where he and all of his friends, both old and new, and even Shahra and Chip were all gathered happily having a picnic filled with all kinds of food including Chili Dogs. Though just as he unconsciously rolled over and laid on his side, shifting a bit to be even more comfortable, Sonic found himself awakening from his peaceful sleep and was just about to fall back fully asleep when his half-awake senses saw something sitting on one of the roots and gazing up at the sky.

"Huh?" He muttered sleepily, sitting up while rubbing his eyes and then yawned while stretching his arms upward. Sonic attempted to wake himself up to see that it was Yacker who was there, and, recognizing the adorable little Wisp, felt confused and concerned and whispered. "Yacker?"

Careful in not waking up Tails or the rest of the aliens, the teenager stood up and silently approached, to which the curl-headed Wisp heard movement and looked over his shoulder to see the hedgehog approach.

"Hey, what're you doin' up?" Sonic asked softly. Yacker looked sad and looked away, muttering something in his language to which the blue hedgehog couldn't understand. "Can't sleep?"

The alien nodded sadly, which made the teenage Mobian even more worried. So he decided to sit next to the sad Wisp, wondering what had Yacker so sad and unable to sleep. "Are you...worried about your mom and the rest of your friends?"

While Yacker nodded, he also pointed at himself and then at Sonic. " #$% & #$% #."

"I wish I could understand what you're sayin', buddy." Sonic muttered a little sadly, with an apologetic smile. Though given how he noticed that Yacker held a guilty look in his eye, he then realized what the Wisp was trying to say. "But...I'm gonna take a guess and say that you're blaming yourself for me going through all the dangers I've faced all day?"

Yacker nodded again, a bit relieved that the blue hedgehog understood. He gazed in front of him again and muttered something in Wisp language. Hearing what Sonic had been going through, the little alien blamed himself for having the Mobian go through all of this while suffering a trauma from his previous adventure which involved fighting Eggman like he had for a long time, and felt that putting Sonic into rescuing his kind and his world put a strain on him.

"It's not your fault. I'm used to stuff like this." Sonic reassured, then shrugged sheepishly. "Well, you know. Fighting Eggman and other bad guys once and a while. But mainly Blady McNosehair. Been doing so since I was a kid; back when I was just eleven years old, in fact."

"#$%?" The curl-headed Wisp looked up at him in interest and surprise.

"I'm fifteen now, but age never stopped me from doing the right thing, or going on adventures, or helping other people in need." The blue hedgehog continued. "Not to mention looking out for them, especially my friends. I know you do the same, Yacker. Looking out for everybody here even long before all of this started."

He then looked up at the sky while adding. "You and I have a lot in common. Looking out for our friends because we're both willing to, and after today or yesterday, you and all of the aliens are my friends now. When I first saw you and a few of your buddies in trouble, I knew what I had to do. Whenever Eggman and his robots are attacking others, it's never a good thing. Especially since he has a history of putting innocent creatures or just anyone in general inside robots as batteries or whatever else evil he comes up with."

Yacker tilted his head slightly, feeling a little better in Sonic's words and surprised on how much he knew and experienced for the last four years.

"What happened now not only reminded me of all the bad things he did, and being a reminder of what happened two months ago, but...it reminded me of how our fights began." Sonic sighed, gazing low, his smile fading. "It all started when I used to live on South Island back at home where I grew up, when he began wrecking havoc and putting all animals inside his robots, trying to turn all of the beautiful nature and landscape into a metal city with nothing but those things..."

He gazed at Yacker with a sad expression. "Like how he's been turning your home to fit his stupid fantasy. Not as bad back then as it is now and I managed to prevent him from even touching it, but still awful enough. At first, when I battled those things without second thought, I thought he was just after the island and I knew I was the only one fast enough to stop him before it was too late."

" #%$?" Yacker muttered, sinking into the story of the blue hedgehog's past, that the young hero had been willing to go through all the dangers into stopping the evil man.

"I know. Pretty crazy, huh? But I just couldn't let him do what he did." Sonic nodded, before adding sheepishly. "Uh, that and it gave me a chance to finally go out and have an adventure, since it's been my dream to explore my entire planet, to see everything in it, meet all the people, to see things no one else would see in their lifetime."

The blue hedgehog shrugged when his newest friend blinked. "Back then, I accepted any kind of challenge, though the closer I got to the first final battle, the more I realized how dangerous it really was and...well, I was pretty scared back then too. Then I realized that the lives of everybody and the safety and freedom of my home planet was much more important and everybody that I saved were counting on me. I couldn't let them down."

Pausing, Sonic glanced at his hands in thought, realizing how much things had changed within himself.

"It hadn't been easy, but they never were. Since then, I both accepted in being a hero and being who I am, since I'm still the same old Sonic the Hedgehog. After that, I met Tails when I left South Island, and we went on our very first adventure together, and I grew to love him so much. We were best friends and brothers ever since, and the rest of my adventures, I met Knuckles, and Rouge, and many others too; Amy...who let's just say she's crazy over me. But anyway, things got easier and I had fun and remained determined at the same time." He continued.

" #$." His alien friend muttered, amazed on how much the blue hedgehog had developed in being a hero as well as being free at the same time. But then he became concerned when the teenage Mobian glanced up at the sky once more.

"But then...everything changed for the worst two months ago. I lost my touch, my self-confidence, and I rushed in at the wrong time. Eggman had planned on splitting my entire home into pieces to awaken a horrible, giant monster in order to use it's power to rule it...and I fell right into his trap when he pretended to change his ways. I didn't fully believe him back then either, but it was enough to distract me, to capture me and strip me of a special kind of power called the Chaos Emeralds..." Sonic admitted, his heart aching as, while he didn't want to remember, he knew that he didn't have much of a choice.

Thinking it now made him relive that horrible moment.

"...He used them to split the world apart, and I couldn't do anything to stop him...! That's when...that's when Dark Gaia, the monster, woke up when it shouldn't have been...at least not for another millions of years. Same with Light Gaia..." Sonic continued, his voice cracking as he tried to hold it back.

" #$%!?" Yacker exclaimed softly, careful not to wake anyone else but was horrified to hear what Eggman had done, but was confused as to how the blue hedgehog's world was put back to together, looking as though it was never split apart.

The teenage Mobian paused to wipe away tears that formed in his eyes, before sighing even though the reminder once again ached his heart. "Light Gaia even ended up losing his memories. I called him Chip since I had to call him something, and thought I was responsible for his memory loss. Same with my other new friend Sun, who, well, didn't know who he was either and was cursed to transform into a Werehog each night...and that form developed a soul of a monster itself, wanting nothing more than to destroy Sun's soul and eat me. Some of Dark Gaia's darkness ended up in my heart too, making my fears and guilt make it stronger."

Sonic sighed, hugging his knees. "We managed to restore the Chaos Emeralds and put the world back together, Chip getting his memories back, we learned where Sun really came from and destroyed the monster within himself, beating Eggman who got knocked away when he tried to command Dark Gaia to destroy me-not that it would've listened anyway. But yeah, the three of us defeated it and...well, Sun is cured, the darkness within me is gone and..."

"&%..." His friend muttered, floating up closer to him.

"Chip, he...since his task in restoring Mobius, like he always had since the beginning of time, was done, this time with the help from me and Sun, he had to go back to sleep until it happens properly in another million years. A cycle that probably won't end until the end of time itself. So...I'll never see him again. Not even when I'm gone one day." The blue hedgehog continued.

Sniffling, Sonic struggled to hold it back. "His parting gift to me was his necklace, which I left at my house since I was scared of breaking it. But even so, what happened to my home world, I never felt so horrible in my life, knowing that I'm responsible for Eggman having done that. If I'd been more careful, it wouldn't have happened in the first place. I tried moving on, I tried to not let it get to me. I promised myself I wouldn't make the same mistake twice."

He then sighed again, forcing himself to calm down without breaking into tears again, since he still felt embarrassed about it earlier, and gazed at Yacker, again his detemination and confidence returning. "I'm sorry, Yacker. I wish I'd known that he'd do something like this, then I would've stopped him and then you, your friends, your mom, and your entire home wouldn't be in this situation. But I'm going to set things right."

Yacker felt so emotional, as he felt guilt for not having been stronger for protecting his home, his family and friends and the more he heard Sonic tell his story, the more the Wisp wished he could be a hero, to be much more braver like the blue hedgehog who, while scarred from his previous adventure, was still the hero he'd always been, not hesitating in helping or going on this journey for him and his kind, and protect and free all worlds.

"But you know, even with all the bad things that happened in this adventure, and it delayed my promise to Tails that the two of us would go on an adventure together, I've got to see Mobius from a new beautiful angle, I met you and we got to be friends. We saw planets that were so cool. Especially your home. It's been fun. I'll miss you and all of the aliens when this is over, but I'm glad that we got the chance to experience it. I'll remember it for the rest of my life." Sonic continued.

He then glanced over his shoulder to gaze at the still sleeping Tails, adding. "Plus, it gave me more time to hang out with my little bro, even if it wasn't what I had in mind. But he knows I like to run, and I know that he likes to build things that are definitely nothing like Eggman's stuff. I think hanging out together is more than enough to show how much we're family. Along with everybody else."

Sonic returned his gaze to Yacker, and seeing the tearful look, he gently patted the little alien on the head to comfort him. "I know it's not easy looking out for everybody you care about, but one can only do their best. And hey, I think you've done a great job."

" #$%$ &?" The cute Wisp muttered, surprised by the praise and reassurance.

"Tails and I wouldn't have known a lot if you weren't around. Okay, the translator not being 100% great a few times, but you really helped out a lot, buddy. You and Tails helped me through out this adventure. That still counts in helping your friends. So...Thanks." Sonic said fondly, and surprisingly felt better himself.

Even more emotional for the support and encouragement, Yacker nodded and gave Sonic an embrace, to which the blue hedgehog gently hugged him back. While he knew that they would have to say goodbye once this was over, he wanted to cherish this moment forever, and really, it put him at ease. Telling Tails the truth, admitting his feelings, and while it hurt to relive the events from his last adventure, he realized that telling it to someone had lifted the weight from his chest. Maybe he just had to let it out.

More like he spoke with his heart.

Yacker then babbled something as the two ended their embrace a few moments later, and to Sonic's confusion and surprise, he and the other Wisps who were waking up, were making jiggling sounds and began floating around which arose Tails from his sleep, making the young fox yawn and rub his eyes in a cute way.

"W-what's going on?" Tails asked, still half asleep. He then noticed what was happening and as Sonic stood up, the Wisps were floating around, gesturing at the two Mobians to follow them.

Shrugging and helping his best friend stand, Sonic and Tails followed the Wisps to the edge of the forest until they neared one of the giant trees. Before the two could ask Yacker or any of the other Wisps what was going on, they noticed the sky turning bright as the sun was rising which amazed the duo. Then the aliens all used their powers to lift the best friends up into the air, surprising them as they yelped, then smiled brightly as they were quickly liking this experience. When they reached above the forest, the Wisps gently set Sonic and Tails on top of the tree where they got the best view of the sunrise ever.

"Whoa!" Sonic exclaimed in awe.

"Cool!" Tails added brightly.

The sunlight shined upon the more peaceful side of Planet Wisp, making the sight breath-taking and they could see Mobius, and the Interstellar Amusement Park in the sky which made it even more beautiful. All of the Wisps gathered around them as they all flew around for another bright day, some whom Sonic saved gathering around them as the blue hedgehog and the two-tailed fox then sat on one of the giant-flower-petal like branch.

"This is definitely takin' beauty to the next level." Sonic whispered, smilling at the wonderful sight.

"You said it." Tails agreed, then sighed a little sadly. "It's too bad this is only one time."

"Well, better once in a life-time chance than none." The blue hedgehog pointed out, and he knew that this sight was worth it. It put him on ease, almost like it was healing the inner wounds within him, especially since he can enjoy this with his best friend/little brother and tons of new friends.

"True." The young fox nodded.

Yacker beamed before flopping himself onto Sonic's head to be in the best company and enjoy the sight, now more than ever. The blue hedgehog and his best friend laughed and gazed at the sight before them.

* * *

An hour later, after Sonic and Tails were welcomed for more fruit for breakfast, they and Yacker knew that it was time to continue onward. After saying goodbye to the other Wisps who all thanked them once again, the duo followed their favorite alien who lead them towards the fields and canyons towards where they came from in hopes of getting on the Egg Shuttle to their next destination as they now had only two more generators to shut off and two more planets to free.

"WOOOOOO! Yeah, man!" Sonic cheered as he ran at the speed of sound, racing through the grass and flowers that brushed against his legs. Tails flew in matching speed by his side, and Yacker flying in bright colours along side them.

"Planet Wisp is amazing!" Tails said happily as he and his best friend took in the sights that they were zooming by.

"Totally!" The blue hedgehog agreed. "The alien world is really mysterious and way past cool and beautiful! It's like we're in a much better version of Alice's Wonderland in the storybook. Only downside to that is Eggman's stupid construction site."

"Well, hopefully once all the generators are gone, the site itself will disappear." The young fox reassured.

"I hope you're right."

Their conversation was then kindly interrupted when they heard more adorable squealing and at first the two Mobians thought it was Yacker who was beaming at his two new best friends, but then the trio were then quickly joined by five more Wisps who flew around them in bright colours; one cyan, one yellow, another one red, one blue, and the last being green, all of them having happy expressions. The trio smiled at the welcoming company.

"Well, hi! Come to join us for a jog?" Sonic greeted, and the Wisps nodded. "Okay then, the more the merrier!"

The aliens squealed in delight and flew alongside Yacker and the two Mobians as they all enjoyed each other's company, content to spend it as much as possible while making a journey through the untouched parts of this world and while it was indeed quite small, to all of them it was still pretty big. Sonic ran down along the hills as his friends around him flew closely, passing by rives and lakes filled with fresh, clean water that reflected the sun's light like they were sparkling which added to the already beautiful sight all around them.

When they reached another cliff which also had a large tree root leading to the bottom, and another mile to the Egg Shuttle, Sonic and his friends skid to a stop before the blue hedgehog ended up falling off. Of couse, Sonic being Sonic, he leaped off and surfed his way down the giant root all the way to the bottom.

"WOOO HOOOO!" He cheered happily.

"Hey, wait up!" Tails cried out, and then slid down the root like a slide in the playground. "WHEEEEE!"

Yacker and the other Wisps followed behind as they usually used roots as slides anyway, also cheering excitedly as they and their two friends were having a lot of fun. There were several loops and turns as they went, but that was fine by them. Especially Sonic, because the more loops and turns, and slightly more dangerous, the better. Well, at least to him considering he can be a daredevil and he was perfectly content with that. While Planet Wisp wasn't dangerous at all, except for what Eggman had done to it, the blue hedgehog still loved it, especially it's peaceful and beautiful nature.

Plus, how many people can say that they ventured into a beautiful alien world that was full of peaceful and friendly inhabits?

By the time Sonic and his friends reached the bottom and cheered in excitement, they found themselves in another part of the forest and, despite that he wanted to reach the next world quickly, the blue hedgehog casually walked alongside Tails and Yacker after saying goodbye to the Wisps who decided to take their leave. They ventured through even greener and more unusual but amazing sights with the flower-shaped trees towering over them, while spread out to view the bright blue sky and white clouds.

"This feels like we shrank down the size and gone into giant grass and flowers, but in a real good way." Sonic remarked with a wide smile.

" #$$^#?" Yacker spoke up as he now rested on Tails' head once more, while the eight year old fox pulled out his translator to see what the little alien was saying.

'_Would you...lick it? Uh, no, that's not right._' The two-tailed fox thought, and when he translated it again, he smiled and translated to the blue hedgehog. "Yacker's asking if we like it."

"Like it? I LOVE it." Sonic replied with a chuckle.

"Me too." Tails added happily, which made their friend really happy.

"Yacker, I love everything about your world. Eggman's construction site aside, this matches the beauty of Mobius, in it's own way." The blue hedgehog continued.

"Yeah. How could anybody not love it?" His best friend agreed, before correcting himself sheepishly. "Well, except Eggman."

That made Sonic sigh in exasperation, placing his hands behind his head. "Sadly, that's true. All he likes is nothing but robots and metal, and not in any particular order either. Not to mention telling everybody what he wants them to do or just get rid of them if they don't obey or just fill up the space."

Tails couldn't help but shudder at that thought. "Or get rid of those who don't do it the way he wants even when they do obey him. Robots is one thing, but I'm scared to think what he'd do to people if he manages to brain-wash them."

Sonic gasped softly in horror while lowering his arms, as the thought had actually slipped his mind. Which also brought back memories of yesterday's incident of how his little brother risked his life and freedom to save the blue hedgehog's and preventing him from becoming Eggman's puppet. It was horrible enough to have nearly lost his best friend forever, but if the madman had become just as cruel as he always had been, would he really go as far as discard lives even if they were mind-controlled?

Or worse...dump them into those giant pies, cook them, shrink them and then eat them? He still wasn't certain about the factory that almost baked him, but that was beside the point. But if Eggman really had gone from just crazy evil to pure evil...the very thought of him discarding Tails if the young fox had still been under his control terrified the blue hedgehog to the point that he placed one arm around his ltitle brother's shoulders and gently pulled him a bit closer.

"You and me both, little buddy." The blue hedgehog muttered, trying not to show how scared he felt. He then smirked as he composed himself. "But there's no way in a million years Ro-butt-nik is gonna be brain-washing anybody else or take over the universe while I'm around!"

"And like always, his plans are gonna blow up in his face." The two-tailed fox added, relaxing.

"You know it!" Sonic laughed with a thumbs up, and added with a grin. "Plus, whenever I beat in final battles, he always ends up making an embarrassing exit."

"I think he always makes embarrassing exits even he doesn't do something wrong or when you don't beat him." Tails pointed out with a giggle, remembering the time when Knuckles chased after Eggman when Shadow saved the world from Devil Doom.

"That's true." The blue hedgehog shrugged, remembering the same thing. "Anyway, as much as I wanna explore more of this place, we really should get going. Got more aliens to save, two more planets to free, heaps more of Eggman's toys to bust, and I still gotta find Yacker's mom."

Tails and even Yacker agreed.

* * *

Another five minutes later, the trio made it back to the shuttle station thanks to Yacker's sense of direction, and Sonic was clearly impressed, not having noticed the path being a shortcut earlier. Then again, he'd been focused on finding the generator yesterday that he didn't have time to even see the other path. Luckily for them since the Park was opened, the Egg Shuttle was where they left it.

"Well, time to head to the next planet. It's been fun here while it lasted." Sonic announced, actually feeling sad that they had to leave. He wished they could pay each other a visit, but it was for the best.

"I'm gonna miss this place. It's the best we've visited." Tails sighed.

"Me too." The blue hedgehog sighed as he and his best friend turned around to gaze at the world of the Wisps one more time. "It's great. Of all the strange but exciting planets we've visited, this one will always be my favorite. I'm gonna remember it forever."

Yacker gazed at his home world and looked really sad to be leaving it behind once more, but he had promised himself to continue helping his new friends to find the rest of his kind. Sonic and Tails both took notice of this and looked concerned and confused.

"Hey, Yacker. Is something wrong?" The teenage hero asked.

The cute curl-headed alien said something in his language again, and even before Tails could bring out his translator, Sonic somehow understood as the Wisp was pointing at himself before pointing at them and the shuttle.

"You wanna still come with us?" Sonic asked, a bit surprised. Yacker nodded, while Tails was reading what the alien was saying.

"Yacker says that he's sad to leave home, but wants to...uhh...hold on a sec." The two-tailed fox fiddled with the translator again and then continued, "Okay, he wants to keep on helping his friends in the other two planets we're going because he'd feel bad if he stayed behind."

"Well then, in that case, you're more than welcome to continue traveling with us, buddy." Sonic said with a smile, very impressed and proud of the little Wisp's determination to continue finding and helping the rest of his kind. Plus it would give the two Mobians more time to spend with him.

Sastisfied for the invite and happy once more, Yacker cheered and nuzzled Sonic's cheek which made the blue hedgehog laugh before he reassured once the cute alien stopped. "Don't worry, you'll come back home with the rest of your friends. I promise, everything will be okay."

Just then, they were suddenly joined by several other different kinds of Wisps who, looking rather sad to see the trio off, were giving out bright colours while Tails translated on what they were saying.

"Everybody's cheering us on and wishing us good luck. And they're saying goodbye and thanking them for freeing their world." The young fox translated.

"Thanks, and you're welcome. Don't you guys worry, soon all of you will finally be free from Baldy Nosehair's evil regime. Still gotta make sure he doesn't win the fight I know I have to face against him, but I promise you I will beat him like I always do. Live free, our friends!" Sonic responded boldly and wished.

The Wisps beamed happily, even the released pink ones were happier than usual, and waved their friend Yacker and two Mobian friends off while the trio boarded the Egg Shuttle once more. It took off while leaving Planet Wisp behind and carried the trio towards their next destination.

* * *

Another ten minutes later, Sonic, Tails and Yacker were again relaxing as the Egg Shuttle carried them towards their next destination while gazing out of the window watching Planet Wisp get further and further away. The little alien gave a sad moan, feeling home-sick already, only to feel Sonic gently rub his back slowly to comfort him.

"It's okay, Yacker." The blue hedgehog reassured, causing the Wisp to glance up at him. "You'll be back home before you know it."

"I know what he's going through." Tails spoke up with a sad smile. "It's only been one and a half days, but I'm little homesick too. This is the longest we've been away from Mobius."

"Don't worry. We'll be home by later today." Sonic told his best friend with a smile. "Besides, I've been away from home for what felt like a week, depending on the time difference between Mobius and a magic book to save genies."

"Yeah." The two-tailed fox nodded.

Things would've been peaceful before their next arrival if the next announcement hadn't suddenly made things already bad for them...or mostly to the blue hedgehog.

"_**Next Stop: The Aquarium Park. This underwater attraction is the perfect place to commune with sea life!...And hopefully, get chummy with a shark.**_" Eggman's intercom spoke.

Hearing this made Sonic's blood freeze up, and his pupils shrinking in sudden fear.

"U-U-U-U-UNDERWATER!?" Sonic exclaimed, freezing up in his seat and began quivering. Whimpering as his hydrophobia kicked in, he couldn't help but complain as he knew this will be the hardest and worst task he'd have to face in this adventure. "No! Not that! Anything but that!"

He had almost taken a dip in the purple liquid yesterday and had been shaken up by that experience...before the worst hallucination had made things worse. Now he had to face the risk of drowning in a world that was literally made of nothing but water!?

"Uh-oh." Tails muttered worriedly, quickly concerned about his big brother's welfare. Yacker glanced at Sonic worriedly as his expression changed from confidence to paralyzing fear all of the sudden. The cute alien flew over to the two-tailed fox and muttered something in his language while gesturing at the blue hedgehog.

Knowing what he was asking even without the translator, Tails whispered. "Sonic's scared because he can't swim."

"I can hear ya, you know?" The aforementioned hedgehog grumbled with a small glare, before groaning as he trembled, slightly but visibly shaking. "Water park... It had to be a water park. Why is it always water?"

"D-don't panic, Sonic. They said Aquarium, so there's a chance that you don't have to swim." His little brother tried to reassure.

"Tails. This is Eggman we're talking about." Sonic deadpanned, trying not to let his voice squeak in panic. "This would be fine if I could swim and not worry about having that horrible feeling of sinking like a rock, the terrible and terrifying sound of drowning, trapped in that freezing death that can swallow me whole, and slowing me down completely-"

"Okay, okay. I know how much you're scared." Tails cut him off, holding his hands up and waved them in defeat, before saying optimistically. "Lucky for us, I've finally built something to help solve this problem."

"Huh?" The blue hedgehog blinked, confused and suddenly interested. Yacker held the same expression while the eight year old kit pulled out of his tool box and dug into it, until he finally found what he was looking for with a small murmur of, 'Aha! Here it is.'

"Tada!" Tails revealed, holding up what looked like a pair of goggles, coloured in blue around the straps which had a button on the side.

"Swimming goggles?" Sonic muttered.

"Not just any swimming goggles, Sonic." Tails began proudly. "This is a special breathable mask-goggles, with unlimited oxygen when you go underwater. I call it the Sea-Mask. When you push this button here, it turns into a see-through mask that can help you see where you're going, breath without getting your face wet, and even talk too, as long as it turn it on before you enter the water. It also has an in-built ear protection and speakers, too. Kind of like a diving helmet."

"Really?" The teenage hedgehog asked, amazed and, while he still wasn't looking forward in going underwater, felt some relief that maybe this wouldn't be so bad after all. "You actually made that?"

The young fox nodded, "Yep! I built it last month since I knew that you'd end up going underwater at some point, and I don't want you to drown. I already tested it out and it works like a charm! Though this is the first of it's kind, and who better in a need of using it than you? So, I want you to have it."

He handed the mask to Sonic who gazed at it in his hands, stunned by how his little brother had just saved him the trouble already and smiled, his fear half-way dimming. "Tails, have I ever told you how much I love you?"

"Lot's of times." Tails giggled, his face turning slightly pink in embarrassment.

"I'll make sure to take good care of it. Thanks, li'l bro." The hero of Mobius replied, placing the goggles over his head where it rested on his forehead so that he wouldn't have to pull it in and out of his quills while he was in the Water World, before smirking. "How do I look?"

"Really cool!" His best friend replied, and Yacker, who was shocked to hear that Sonic couldn't swim, nodding in agreement. "Well, cooler than you always been."

"Thank you. Please, hold your applauds." Sonic said, acting like he was a fashion model, which made his two friends giggle and he joined in the laughter.

This lasted for a little bit before they fell into a comfortable silence while they waited to reach the Aquarium Park, and while the blue hedgehog still wasn't comfortable in going underwater and was still nervous, he was feeling a bit better knowing that he finally have an equipment that'll help him go through it this time. Not like all the previous times he had to face his fear and almost drowned at the same time.

"Um, Sonic?" Tails spoke up, hesitantly after five minutes.

"What's up, Tails?" Sonic replied, glancing at his friend.

"About yesterday, about the hallucinations you've been having. Are...you really okay?" The two-tailed fox asked as carefully as he could without hurting his big brother's feelings again, scared that the conversation could end up like what happened that caused the blue hedgehog to run off and then pass out after another hallucination episode.

Slightly caught off-guard by this, and then sensing the hesitation from his little brother, Sonic shrugged with a sad smile. "To be honest, I think I'm okay. I mean, the Werehog hallucination really freaks me out and I swear when he tried to swallow me whole when it happened again that it felt so real, I kinda forgot that it was just my mind-or my heart-was playing tricks on me. But I think I figured out what causes it to happen."

"What?" Tails asked, curiously and worriedly.

"It's when...when I feel guilty over something that's related to this situation, or whenever I feel scared. The hallucination of Chip keeps telling me to be myself, and I try to be." The teenage hedgehog explained. "He also keeps telling me not to let my guilt or fear get to me. Don't know how yet, but like I said. I won't stop from doing the right thing, and eventually I will be able to move on."

A moment of silence.

"I think I know why you're having a hard time, Sonic." The eight year old kit eventually ventured.

"What's that?" Sonic queried.

"It's because you're not forgiving yourself or giving yourself a chance to do so. Everybody's like that, like you told me on our first adventure." Tails explained.

Sonic's eyes widened at this, as he did recall that day as well. It was when his bi-plane was damaged during a flight and when he risked his life to save his best friend's that Tails continuously blamed himself and was afraid that the blue hedgehog would be so angry with him, whereas Sonic had been more worried about the young fox's safety and told him not to blame himself. It had taken him a bit of a while to forgive himself, but the back then five year old eventually pulled through.

He then remembered what the Werehog had said to Chip before Sonic regained consciousness.

_"__**YOU MEDDLESOME FORGIVENESS!**__"_

'_Forgiveness...is that what the hallucination of Chip is, and not just encouragement and support? Confidence, yeah...but is that what he's trying to tell me? So far everybody's forgiven me and, well, I have been careful about what I did and I did atone by putting the world back together with Chip and Sun's help..._' The blue hedgehog thought to himself.

Could it really be that the reason he had difficulty in moving on was because he wasn't forgiving himself for what happened that was out of his control?

"...Guess I'd really oughta take up my own advice." Sonic eventually replied, sheepishly scratching the top of his head.

"And if you forgive yourself, the hallucinations should stop." Tails nodded.

"You're right." The blue hedgehog agreed, feeling like he's finally getting a better picture with his hallucination problem. "But...that's easier said than done."

"You can do it. I know you can, because I believe in you." The two-tailed fox encouraged, and Yacker babbled in his language of support as well. That made their true-blue friend feel emotional even though he tried to hide the fact that he felt like crying again.

"Aw, guys. You're the best." Sonic smiled happily, before holding out his arms and said. "Let's have another group hug for the heck of it."

Tails and Yacker beamed and placed themselves in their friend's arms as they wrapped theirs around him as they all once again embraced, and while they didn't see it, small traces of tears formed in the corners of his eyes. Sonic loved them with all his heart.

* * *

When they arrived at the station of Aquarium Park, the trio stepped out of the Egg Shuttle and glanced downward towards the tunnel that lead into the park itself after stopping by the third mid-step that would've had both Sonic and Tails fall if they and Yacker hadn't noticed.

"Think I'll turn this thing on just in case I end up underwater sooner than I want to." The blue hedgehog commented as he gazed at the tunnel below.

"Actually, you don't need to." The two-tailed fox assured, looking at the burrowed map from the map holder. "It says here that you don't land straight into water. It leads to an in-built village with even more stores, with the Aquarium all around you and...Hey, cool! There's tons of Restaurants too!"

Sonic sweat-dropped at the last part. "Uh, buddy? You sure you wanna try some of Egghead's food?"

"Well, professor Pickle never got sick, even though he didn't like how they did the cucumber sandwiches." Tails replied, though the more safer side of him was saying that going into any restaurant owned by Eggman was a very bad idea. "I know Eggman's cruel but he can't be _that_ cruel, right?"

'_I beg to differ._' The teenager thought. In the end, he just shrugged and said, "You be careful, okay guys? I've got a generator to find."

"You too." His best friend nodded, and Yacker did the same.

"Right. See ya!" Sonic gave them a thumbs up and leaped down into the tunnel, free-falling and while he knew that Tails and Yacker would follow behind to enter this place, at least they could fly and not worry about an impact of a crash landing.

'_Hmm, I wonder if they are any landing pads for the tourists...Knowing Eggman, probably not._' Sonic thought, winching as he knew that while he was skilled, most others wouldn't be. Fortunately, there was an inflatable slide that went into a tunnel of a huge underwater tube with loops. The blue hedgehog landed safely and immediately began running, passing by the sights of the sea life outside of the air-filled tube. It really was like an aquarium-a giant one, only it was really underwater.

"Whoa..." Sonic murmured in awe, catching sight of all the sea plants and corals, schools of fish, a giant Sting Ray, dolphins swimming about and playing, and even a giant Beluga Whale that swam from the right side and over the glass ceiling to the other side, but not before taking a glance down at the blue hedgehog who's eyes widened as he let out a soft gasp of shock, amazement and slight fear at the sight of it.

The whale gave out a moan, seemingly giving out a curious and odd smile that made the teenage hero uneasy as it continued to swim deeper, just as Sonic continued onward. It was unusual to see it in an area that had other sea creatures, considering how he'd come to know that these types of whales mostly live in the colder parts of Mobius. But then again, this is a water planet, so the rules were different here compared to home.

"Man, maybe that's where Eggman got the Space Whale idea from." The blue hedgehog thought, gulping nervously. "Hope it doesn't mistake me for fish and have me for lunch."

He then realized that he wasn't the only one with this new threat, and his worry for the Wisps increased. "Or the aliens. I gotta find them before they end up being fish food!"

With that thought in mind, Sonic sped on faster in hopes to find the generator and free the aliens, as well as avoid the dangers of sea predetors like the giant whale, sharks and giant squids. Along the way, the blue hedgehog was bracing himself to hit the wall or pool of water when he emerged from the tunnel and discovered something else even more amazing; oriental red buildings with soft lights that brightened the paths, small lily pad ponds with lanterns all over the place. It reminded him of one of the cities he visited during his previous journey with Chip and Sun.

A smile lit up his face at the more happier and fun memories while taking in the cool sights. He couldn't help but chuckle at the time when he and his two back-then companions were having lunch of delicious dumplings, having playfully fought with the last one which Chip in the end had won only to end up getting his head stuck in a pot, and while he felt bad about it, Sonic couldn't help but laugh.

'_Ah, the good old memories. Nice to think about those for once._' Sonic thought to himself. While it had been a stressful adventure, by all means it was still fun and this adventure was ultimately fun, stressful and scary too. But all of his adventures were in many different ways.

The sight of the ocean world outside of the glass giant tube just made it even more breath-taking.

"Aw. Why did I have to be such a sinker and unable to swim when this place is really cool? So unfair." The blue hedgehog grumbled, just as he then came across more Egg Pawns, the first he encountered in this world.

What made it more annoying, or to put it more correctly, more embarrassing, was that these robots were dressed up as pirates with cutlasses, swinging about their weapons when they saw him approach. He raised an eyebrow as he skid to a stop, examining the Pirate-Bots.

"I don't know about you guys, but I think you look totally ridiculous in those sad pirate costumes." Sonic remarked as he folded his arms, before shrugging with a smug smile. "Oh well, not like you're gonna be around for Halloween anyway."

The robots didn't take kindly to the insult and charged in what Eggman called was rapid speed, but what Sonic called was pathetic and slow. The Mobian hero charged and spin dashed into one, knocking it back and causing it to tumble backwards before it ended up falling into one of the ponds where it exploded and sending out a small fountain of water. The blue hedgehog took out the other with a super-fast karate kick at it's chest before kicking it in the face which caused it's head to fall off and it ended swinging it's blade blindly.

While Sonic then took care of the third and fourth ones with a spin dash and a karate punch, the second robot not only ended up slashing and destroying the fifth one, but it also suffered the same fate as the first one he took out. By the time he was done, he dusted his hands off with a smirk and a chuckle.

"I'm just that darn good when it comes to stuff like this." He said to himself. "And if I wanted to, I'd make a better looking pirate, just as long as I don't do the accent."

He was just about to continue onward when he came across a capsule with a trapped alien inside. Sighing in relief that it wasn't underwater, which Sonic was worried that the Wisps could end up drowning if he had to open up one or several and he couldn't carry the capsules to the surface, the blue hedgehog hurried over and cracked it open. It revealed a Cyan Wisp who, like many of the aliens he saved in one and a half days, it was happy to be free which made him really happy.

"Hey, little guy." Sonic waved at it. "Feelin' any better?"

The Wisp nodded as it flew up to the blue hedgehog and cheered. Though before the two could continue the conversation, or rather even begin it properly, not only the little alien noticed something behind him which made it's eye widen with a freaked out expression, the sound of a musical moaning filled Sonic's ears which had him turn around to see, and gasped in shock as the whale he'd seen earlier was now swimming above their heads. The duo watched it swim as the teenage hedgehog felt even more uneasy when it eyed him with a smile, briefly showcasing it's teeth before swimming away from sight.

Sonic couldn't help but gulp nervously again, saying mostly to himself. "I...really don't like how that big guy's looking at us like that. The way he's following us makes me think that he might be really hungry."

"#$% &!?" The Cyan Wisp exclaimed in fright when it heard this, before quickly hugging him and clinging onto his chest, shivering in fear and whimpering.

'_Uh-oh. I think scared him._' Sonic flinched, realizing that what he just said didn't exactly give it any comfort. So, despite being worried that he could end up being eaten by the whale if he wasn't careful, he gently rubbed his new friend's back to soothe it. "Sorry. Didn't mean to scare you. It'll be okay, and I'll make sure that whale doesn't get to you or your friends."

The alien looked up at him slowly with a hopeful expression, and was surprised with how gentle the Mobian was.

"Don't worry. Leave everything to me." The blue hedgehog reassured with a wink, which made the Wisp feel a lot better again.

Just then, they heard a young girl's scream coming from up ahead which startled both Sonic and the Wisp who both looked up with yelps. What they saw shocked them and angered the blue hedgehog. Because not only he saw a very familiar little rabbit girl with a Chao in her arms, the latter having a red bow, but they were cornered by more Pirate-dressed Robots who were threatening the terrified child and Chao who were whimpering in fear.

"It's Cream and Cheese!" The blue hedgehog exclaimed, both horrified to see that two of his friends were in danger, and surprised that they were up here in the first place. "Gotta save them!"

The Cyan Wisp glanced at it's hero curiously while shocked that the Robots were threatening two that he recognized.

Suddenly having an idea even though he still felt bad for doing this, Sonic turned to the alien and asked it almost pleadingly, "Hey, can you help me save them with your powers?"

Nodding immediately as it wanted to lend him it's power anyway, the Wisp absorbed itself into his body and Sonic was ready for it.

"LASER!"

Turning into the laser form, Sonic zoomed towards the three large robots and smashed them into pieces without harming Cream or Cheese who had closed their eyes while bracing themselves. When they both realized that they were okay, they nervously looked and saw to their surprise and delight that a strange Cyan light had saved them. They were even more surprised that it formed into a familiar blue hedgehog who returned to normal, and coming out of his body was his new alien friend.

"Yeah! Nice job!" Sonic cheered, as he and the Wisp shared a high-five.

"Look, Cheese! It's Mr. Sonic!" Cream said happily to her companion who cheered in relief and happiness as well, while the little girl approached her best friend's 'boyfriend' who turned to her and Cheese along with the Cyan alien.

"Hiya, Cream. What's up, Cheese?" The blue hedgehog greeted with a wave, only to be a bit startled when Cheese flew out of Cream's arms and hugged his face, nuzzling his head on the hedgehog's cheek which made him laugh. "C-Cheese, c-cut that out! Ha ha ha! That tickles!"

"Thank you for saving us, Mr. Sonic, and Cheese is saying thank you, too." The young girl beamed, only to blink in confusion as the Cyan Wisp flew around her, curiously. Seeing this strange creature very friendly and adorable, she greeted it. "Hello! Are you Mr. Sonic's new friend?"

"Cream, this little guy is an alien I've been rescuing from Eggman's hands. Don't worry, these little guys are very friendly." Sonic explained, as Cheese, also curious, flew towards the Wisp who turned it's attention to the Chao. The two flew around each other, and then they shook hands before beaming.

"Mr. Alien is very nice, and so cute too!" Cream replied, feeling very comfortable and giggled. "I think Cheese really likes him."

"Chao, chao, chao!" Cheese echoed as he began playing with the Wisp who squealed happily.

Sonic smiled at the adorable scene, remarking. "Looks like these two are really getting along." He then asked curiously. "So um, what're you doing here, Cream?"

"Amy and I were out for walk when we found this fun-looking ride, then we explored this tropical place and then took a bus to here." His youngest friend explained.

Though when she said the one name that while he didn't mind so much, really made him pale slightly in horror. "A-A-Amy's here too!?"

Cream nodded happily. "Mm-hm!"

That made the blue hedgehog mentally groan as he tried not to show it. '_Great. Not only do I have to run the risk of a giant whale being a potential threat, and I still have no idea where Yacker's mom is, not to mention that I gotta find that generator, now I gotta handle a crazed but admittedly beautiful fan-girl._'

"Uh...Where is she?" Sonic asked, trying not to look too dismayed over the fact that he'd have to eventually run into his self-insert girlfriend.

"We were out shopping when I kind of wondered off and Cheese and I got lost. Then those mean robots chased us." The young girl replied, sighing.

"Oh boy. Young ladies should be more careful around strange machines and new places that are easy to get lost in." The blue hedgehog sweatdropped with a shrug.

"Is that mean Dr. Eggman doing something awful again? Because those robots are not nice at all." Cream asked.

Sonic sighed, shaking his head. "'Fraid so, and these aliens are being captured for something really terrible behind everybody else's backs. That's why I gotta save the rest of them and put of a stop to Eggman's plans, no matter how amazing this Amusement Park is."

"Oh, you poor things." The young rabbit said with sadness as she and Cheese, who along with his new Wisp friend were listening, gazed at the alien who lowered it's head with a nod. "That's so terrible."

"Don't worry. I've already saved lots of them and this little guy is the latest so far. By the way, Tails around here too along with our other alien friend named Yacker who's been helping us out with what's been going on." The teenage hedgehog reassured.

"Mr. Tails is here too?" Cream asked, surprised and her friend nodded. "How long have you been here?"

The blue hedgehog blushed in slight embarrassment as he sheepishly scratched the back of his head, explaining. "Since yesterday. Tropical Restort was our first stop too, which is pretty obvious. I saved Yacker and a couple of his friends from Decoe, Becoe, Bokkun, Orbot and their new robot pal Cubot who has trouble with his voice, either sounding like a cowboy or a pirate or something else. Anyway, when Tails and I were out jogging while planning our next adventure, we came across the elevator and I knew that something was up."

"So how come you didn't come home yet and come back here?"

"Didn't have time. 'Cause by the time I saved and freed the aliens' homeworld, it was already late and the park was closed, so the two of us stayed there for the night." Sonic said, smiling fondly. "I wish you could see it, Cream. Other than Eggman's construction site, it's beautiful. Full of life and nature, alien looking but amazing."

"Wow!" Cream exclaimed in awe. "That sounds like home and really fun! I can't wait to hear this story and tell Amy!"

"Speaking of Ames', I think it's a good idea that I'd take you to her. Wouldn't want you and Cheese get caught up with more of those robots again." Sonic suggested, knowing that he wouldn't feel easy until he knew that Cream and Cheese were safe with Amy and he'd feel a lot better that all three of them were back home in Mobius.

"Okay. I think she was in that direction, but I'm not sure." The young six year old girl pointed at where she and her Chao friend had come from.

"No problem. I'll get us there in a jiffy." The blue hedgehog said.

"Thank you, Mr. Sonic!" Cream replied, and Cheese cheered.

So after the trio said their goodbyes to the Cyan Wisp who flew away, hopefully back to Planet Wisp, Sonic scooped up his youngest friend in his arms while Cheese decided to ride on top of his head, and after telling the two of them to hold on, he dashed off to, grudgingly, find Amy and then hopefully continue his task to save the rest of the Wisps and free this world from Eggman's Park.

While he hasn't even reached the water yet. Then again, while he wanted to hurry and free the aliens, he didn't mind a little delay in order to avoid one of his greatest fears.

* * *

**A/N: I came up with the idea of the Sea-Mask which will be seen on how it's used in the next chapter, and while Cream and Cheese were at Tropical Resort in the DS version of the game, I decided to change it for them to be hanging out with Amy instead, 'cause, well...I'm kinda not a Big and Froggy fan. Sorry, Big the Cat fans.**

**See you later!**


	12. Chapter 12: A Whale Later

**Author's Note: Thanks for the idea with Sonic and Amy, gregorian12. Again it helped. I will do my best with the rest of this story.**

**And as for your question about the Sea Mask, Snake Screamer: I haven't thought of that and I kinda don't want to think of that scenario. ;^~^**

**Anyway, happy reading!**

**I do not own Sonic The Hedgehog. All rights belong to Sega.**

* * *

_Chapter 12: A Whale Later._

"Cream! Where are you, Cream?" Called out Amy Rose, the pink hedgehog in a red dress and purple long boots from the middle of the street of the stores and other things of Aquarium Park. It was a beautiful place, and she saw many sea creatures along with Cream and Cheese, but she must've gotten distracted and now her best friend was missing along with the cute Chao.

It didn't help that despite how nice this place looked, she couldn't help but feel like Eggman's 'remorse' was fake despite that it did sound somewhat convincing. Still, she was getting very worried and to make things more complicating, she hasn't heard from Sonic in a while and all Amy wants is to be with him and make her dream to marry him come true.

"Huh. Come to think of it, I'm surprised Sonic hasn't been here yet or stopping whatever plan Eggman's got..." Amy thought to herself, before having second thoughts and giggled at how silly that was. "Then again, since this place is full of water even with an air tube and town, he's probably going to explore this place last."

However, she thought wrong. Because as the pink hedgehog glanced around again, up ahead she spotted a very familiar blue streak coming around the corner and nearly passing her up on the other side of the street when it skid to a stop, revealing the aforementioned blue hedgehog of her dreams, holding her best friend in his arms with a familiar Chao resting on his head.

Immediately, Amy squealed in delight and excitement, her eyes all sparkling and you could practically see love hearts and stars float all around her. In a matter of micro seconds, she raced off to reunite with Cream and once again try to hang out with Sonic.

* * *

At the same time, Sonic, Cream and Cheese, with the blue hedgehog skidding to a stop and gently setting his youngest friend down while the Chao hovered off his head and into the little girl's arms, glanced around for any signs of Amy even though he really didn't want to meet her today. Especially when he's on the job.

"I think we're in the right place, but I don't see Amy anywhere." Cream said, glancing around.

"Oh, she'll turn up. Don't worry." Sonic reassured, adding with a sweatdrop. "Plus, knowing her, she'll be the one to find us. Especially me."

"SOONNNNIIIIIC!"

As if on cue, upon hearing the familiar squeal and rapid running coming from their left, the trio looked to see the pink hedgehog running up towards them almost as fast as Sonic who flinched in fright. He was about to make a run for it when Amy glomped him, holding him tightly in her arms and nuzzled him happily and lovingly.

"A-Amy! Let me go! Ah!" The blue hedgehog cried out, trying to push his crazy friend and self-proclaimed girlfriend off as gently as possible while clearly annoyed by her overwhelming obbession with him, but she refused and continued hugging him and smothering him with her love. He then cast a small glare at Cream and Cheese who both giggled.

"Finally! Do you know how hard it is to find a guy who never stops?" Amy exclaimed, before sighing like a girl in love. "Although that's your charm I suppose. One of them, anyway."

Sonic rolled his eyes, groaning. He really wished she would stop being this way with him. Sure he had to admit she is beautiful, and definitely caring, brave, strong and determined, fun to hang out sometimes. But she was also crazy whenever he was around or even thought of. Not to mention very scary when she's really angry, especially with that Hammer of hers.

"Uh, no. That's just the way I was born. You know I can never stay in one place for long." He pointed out, finally able to push her away and held her gently by the shoulders within an arm's length. "Anyway, other then me, you were looking for Cream, right? Well, I found her and Cheese."

Hearing the aforementioned two who approached, Amy finally moved her attention from her 'boyfriend' to her best friend and looked very relieved. "Cream and Cheese! There you are! I've been so worried!"

"I'm sorry, Amy. I got too distracted. I didn't mean to worry you." Cream replied as she and her pet Chao hugged her best friend who returned it. "Mr. Sonic and his new Mr. Alien friend saved us from those mean robots."

"I'm so glad to hear th-wait a minute. Did you just say alien?" The pink hedgehog asked, raising an eyebrow in confusion and shock when she heard this. She turned to Sonic who shrugged.

"Long story, and don't worry, the aliens around here and other parts of this park including their home planet are way more nicer than Black Doom and his army. In fact, they're smaller, friendlier, more fun and really cute, too." The blue hedgehog reassured quickly.

"It's true. Cheese even became friends with him. I wish you could have met him, Amy." Cream added.

"Chao, chao." Cheese nodded with a bright smile.

The twelve year old hedgehog blinked in surprise, before realizing what else Sonic had said and asked in shock. "Sonic, did you just say their home planet is part of this park!?"

Sonic nodded grimly. "Yeah, Eggman kidnapped the entire planet and all of the aliens. That includes the mother of our new friend named Yacker, who Tails and I met yesterday. He's using them to not only power up robots and having chained both that planet, this one and three others, but to also steal their power called the Hyper-Go-Ons to power up a mind-controlling machine."

The girls gasped in horror, before Cream exclaimed. "That's horrible!"

"Oooh! I knew that remorse stuff he said was all fake!" Amy growled angrily over this. "How dare he use those poor aliens for something like this and build a giant Amusement Park as a cover-up!?"

"Tell me about it. Worst part is, if the aliens lose all of their power, they turn into something bad. I don't know what, but Eggman certainly knows and I gotta find out what and figure out how to turn them back to normal. Especially since he lied to me when I thought..." The blue hedgehog trailed off, gazing at the floor in guilt which he tried to surpress.

"When you thought what?" The pink hedgehog asked, as she and her best friend noticed his expression and quickly grew worried.

Feeling uncomfortable as silence followed while unable to say anything at first, Sonic rubbed his right arm as he tried to look away to avoid the girls and the Chao from seeing his expression. He still blamed himself for what's been happening to the Wisps even though he tried to forgive himself since he's foiling Eggman's plans as usual.

Then he realized that he had to tell them since they would want to know and Amy would really demand with what she would want, and he hated making them worried. Yet Sonic knew that they were worried about him because they loved him, more ways than one. Tails, Amy, Knuckles, Rouge, Cream and Cheese, even the Chaotix, they were his friends. His family. He loved them so much.

Sighing in order to pull himself together, Sonic regained his composure and suggested when he turned back to them after a few moments of silence. "Why don't I start from the beginning? It would make more sense."

Amy and Cream, still worried about Sonic as it was rare that he'd look so sad and nervous, nodded in agreement to hear what he had to say.

* * *

While the blue hedgehog made sure there was no danger despite that he really wanted to go out and save more aliens, which he got the chance to by this time saving white Wisps after taking out more robots while trio of friends strolled around the in-built city, and Amy was fully convinced that the Wisps were indeed friendly and very adorable, and even more amazed by the power of the Hyper-Go-Ons which the aliens allowed Sonic to burrow even just a little bit to demonstrate, he explained everything to her and Cream from discovering the elevator to everything else that's happened the previous day.

Sonic even admitted, very carefully since he didn't want to scare Cream or Cheese, and he certainly didn't want to give them nightmares, to Amy about the hallucinations which she was surprised and shocked, but promised not to say anything. He told them about the mind-controlling machine to which he almost got hit and still felt terrible that Tails had risked his life to save him.

"...So after that, it was so late that the park was closed and Tails and I were kinda stuck on the alien planet, which, except for Eggman's construction site, is very beautiful. All the trees that are shaped like giant flowers, the green grass, flowers themselves, even the lake and rivers too. Anyway, the two of us spent the night there since they were so grateful. This is actually the first world we came to today, and it's the fourth one in total." Sonic explained, as he and his three friends walked casually past the Octopus statue, while having bought some dumplings on sticks to snack on, even though they were careful. So far, surprisingly, they weren't half-bad and none of them were getting sick yet.

"So you only got two more of those generators to turn off, right?" Amy guessed.

"Yep! And thanks to Tails and his new Sea-Mask, I'm about to try it out and see if I can survive underwater for once without drowning." The blue hedgehog nodded, while gesturing at his new goggles on his forehead, before groaning in annoyance. "Not that I'm looking forward in going _underwater_, though."

"I forgot to ask about your new goggles, Mr. Sonic." Cream commented, giggling. "They look really nice on you."

"Yeah, it makes you look more cool!" The pink hedgehog added excitedly with a blush on her cheeks.

Sonic laughed. "Thanks. I do look pretty cool, huh?"

"By the way, where are Tails and Yacker?" Amy asked, curiously.

"Probably around here somewhere as long as they don't run into any robots or Eggman. I'm more worried about them going into those restaurants." The blue hedgehog shrugged.

That made the twelve year old hedgehog sweatdrop along with her six-year old best friend, the former shuddering slightly. "Worst part is, they're all run by Eggman and I was actually considering trying out the Bucket O' Sushi being advertised."

"It can't be that bad, can it?" The six year old rabbit girl asked, confused.

"...Maybe not." Amy muttered.

"I disagree." Sonic muttered under his breath. "Especially since I almost got baked in that giant blueberry pie yesterday back at Sweet Mountain, and I'm still not sure if it was that "Bake Me Crazy" attraction or not."

"Could have been a deathtrap made specifically for you and you alone." Amy pointed out, which made Sonic and Cream blink.

"Huh?" The blue hedgehog muttered.

"Think about it." His self-proclaimed girlfriend shrugged. "Eggman knows you're a thrill-seeker and he could likely have boobytrapped some of the rides specifically to attack you or an ally. Plus he's not afraid to add flame throwers in his robots or machines."

"...Maybe." Sonic conceded. That actually made a bit more sense now that he thought about it. "On the other hand, everything he said in those recordings don't really sound safe to anybody. Thankfully, other than the rides, everything else in the Sweet Mountain are just as awesome and delicious. The giant bowl of ice cream, freezing but tasty, and the piles of popcorn were much better to land in."

"That sounds like fun and yummy!" The six year old girl exclaimed.

Amy nodded in agreement. "Yeah, I can see why it's called Sweet Mountain."

"Just as long as you don't eat too much of all the candy and get sick, you should be fine." The blue hedgehog cautioned, finishing off his dumpling before throwing the stick into the nearby trash can and stretched. "Well, sorry to leave you girls, but I gotta run. There's still tons of aliens waiting for me to rescue them, and a generator to turn off."

He about to take off when he paused and thought of something, before turning back to Amy, Cream and Cheese and advised firmly. "Just in case, though, I want you guys to go home after exploring more of this world and before I shut off the generator, 'cause that'll take a while for me to find."

Even though Amy really wanted to spend more time with Sonic and help find the generator as well as rescue the Wisps, she grudgingly knew that he had a point. He was looking out for them and anything could happen. Sighing, she nodded while Cream and Cheese both looked worried but they too nodded none the less. Sonic then gave them a confident smirk and thumbs up.

"Don'tcha worry, I've got this!" He told them.

Sonic was about to take off when Amy's voice made him stop. "Hey, Sonic?"

"Yeah?" The blue hedgehog glanced over his shoulder, confused as he suddenly noticed and heard that she was rather...hesitant.

"Mind if I talk to you alone for a moment? I promise it won't take long." The pink hedgehog asked, twiddling her fingers and thumbs. Cream and Cheese both looked at her, also confused and wonder what Amy wanted to talk to Sonic about.

"If it's about a proposal, no way." He deadpanned.

"It's nothing like that, even though I'm still annoyed by that response!" She protested, placing her hands on her hips.

Sonic flinched in fright, and held his hands up in defense. "Okay, okay! Sorry."

Sighing to keep her temper in check, Amy then told Cream that she'll be along soon to which her best friend agreed and decided to wait at the bench while the two hedgehogs walked along further to where the hero of Mobius would be going after he said goodbye to their youngest friend and her pet Chao. Once they were out of eavesdrop, Sonic turned to his fellow female hedgehog curiously.

"So um, what is it you wanna talk about, Ames?" He asked.

"When you said you had these hallucinations about Chip and that awful Werehog monster, are you...really okay?" She asked, softly and gently.

"Why wouldn't I be?" Sonic shrugged with a small smile, in an attempt to hide what he was feeling. But when Amy gave him that look which clearly said that she wasn't convinced, he sighed as his smile faded while looking away. "Maybe I'm still a little bit down, but I can manage."

"Sonic..." His self-proclaimed girlfriend whispered, still not buying it.

Realizing that he wasn't getting out of this one with Amy either, the blue hedgehog exhaled after taking a deep breath and braced himself to say what he really felt and while he didn't feel as bad as he had been yesterday, or, he suddenly realized, as bad as he felt for the last two months since the whole Dark Gaia incident.

"Okay, I'm feeling like I've lost my touch since, well, you know. Every time I think I've gotten my edge back, Eggman always ruins it like he's a bad reminder. Not to mention that...I can't get over with what happened. I try really hard to." Sonic confessed, looking away while rubbing his right arm again.

"You still blame yourself for the Dark Gaia thing?" Amy asked gently, her annoyed expression fading instantly and grew worried once more. She'd known that the last adventure had taken a heavy emotional toll on him, but to think that he really hasn't fully recovered and was now seeing hallucinations of both Light Gaia/Chip and the Werehog terrified her.

"How can I not? I mean, Tails pretty much came up with a theory that the reason why I've been having trouble is because I'm not giving myself a chance to forgive myself, but it's still my fault and I can't forget about it, no matter how much I want to. Plus, what if the Amusement Park was my fault too?" Sonic replied, sighing.

"It's not your fault. You're just taking the blame over something that Eggman has done." Amy reassured.

"I'm still responsible for part of it, especially since he had it planned out without me even knowing, and I should've known. If I'd been more careful, then-"

"STOP IT!" She suddenly shouted, cutting him off which made him yelp in fright and flinch back in fear, sweatdropping at her sudden outburst and anger. "Enough with the 'I think I damaged the world and it's all my fault' phrases! Don't you think that anybody would forgive you when you were only trying to save the world like always?"

"I-I...'Course I do. But..." He tried to say, scared.

"No buts! This isn't like you. I know you had it rough, but I can't take it anymore!" Amy yelled.

Sonic felt hurt as the words stung his pride and made him feel even worse. What hurt even more was that maybe admitting his feelings really wasn't helping at all. It made him feel like he just now really lost a friend.

Seeing his expression made the pink hedgehog suddenly realize she'd hurt him when she hadn't meant to, but she had get him to see the reality of the situation.

"Sonic...I didn't meant to hurt you. It's just...how can you blame yourself for something that you couldn't control or that it really was all Eggman being evil like he always is?" Amy apologetically said.

"I just wish it had gone into a whole different direction." Her 'boyfriend' replied, lowering his gaze to the floor, only for his head to be gently lifted back to look at her when she placed her hand onto his cheek.

"Just because you didn't know what was going to happen doesn't mean it really was your fault. You're not a psychic, and everyone makes mistakes." She told him, more gently this time, tears beginning to form in her soft, green eyes. "Are you scared that the world would blame you?"

The blue hedgehog, while feeling better once more by her words, looked away as he scratched the back of his head. "Y-yeah. It'd be worse than the time I was mistaken for the bad things Shadow did before he had a change of heart."

"It'll be alright. Besides, don't you remember when the military were chasing after him despite having lost his memories, and in the end when he saved the world from Black Doom everyone was thankful?" Amy reassured, adding. "You're the world's greatest hero, and you have us to be there for you even if people would be angry for a while. In the end, they'll forgive you if that ever happens."

Sonic glanced at her in surprise. He hadn't thought of that. Sure his friends would be there, but he had been so afraid of what the world's reaction would be that he actually forgot that Shadow had been chased by G.U.N back when he had amnesia, and now the ultimate life-form was a member of the military part-time, along with Rouge and Omega. They had forgiven the black hedgehog.

"What you did was only because Eggman had planned it for months without everybody knowing, and you had been caught off-guard. You didn't do anything wrong at all. Like how none of us knew about this place either, and I won't let you blame yourself for that creep's evil schemes, Sonic the Hedgehog." She continued.

Everything she had said, everything that he knew was all true, made him think back to what both Knuckles and Tails have been saying to him yesterday as well as a little while ago today and even in the last couple of months.

_"...It wasn't your fault, you know." The fox whispered, half-hoping Sonic wouldn't hear, but he did._

_"You are not the cause for what's happened two months ago, Sonic. You're not the cause of what's happening now. You just got caught in the wrong place at the wrong time back then, but you managed to still save the world like you always do. This is different; how were you or anyone else supposed to know this is happening? You have nothing to do with the aliens being kidnapped and sucked dry." Knuckles told him._

_"I think I know why you're having a hard time, Sonic." The eight year old kit eventually ventured._

_"What's that?" Sonic queried._

_"It's because you're not forgiving yourself or giving yourself a chance to do so. Everybody's like that, like you told me on our first adventure." Tails explained._

Sonic let those words echo in his mind, as he realized that they and Amy are absolutely right. Plus the hallucination of Chip didn't blame him either.

"Besides, you got the chance to see many parts of the world, right? And you wouldn't have known Chip or Sun, and I bet you wouldn't have gotten the chance to be friends with all of these cute aliens, either. There's always some good things in bad situations." Amy continued, smiling softly.

"...Yeah. That's true." The blue hedgehog nodded, "To be honest, I still miss Chip a whole lot, 'cause knowing that I can't see him whenever I want like I can with everybody else really gets to me. But I know now that he's always been with me, like you guys have always been."

He then placed a hand to his chest, feeling his heart beat at the tip of his fingers. "Even when I go out alone, I'm never alone. I forgotten the lesson that sometimes friends and families do have to go away, but even far apart, we're always together, no matter what."

"Absolutely. So, no more what if's or self-blames for something that you didn't do on purpose or even know of, okay?" The pink hedgehog agreed and told him. "I miss Chip too, and I think he misses all of us, especially you. Thinking about different scenarios won't change what happened or what will happen."

Sonic nodded, now fully accepting his friends that he still had and beginning to accept that they were all right and it healed his heart even more, knowing that they were there in his time of need, because they all had each other's backs no matter what. "You're right. Thanks, Amy."

Sighing and once again feeling like his normal-self, the blue hedgehog began to walk away as he told the pink hedgehog as he had to now hurry on to continue his quest. "If you will please excuse me, I've got a generator to turn off, more aliens to save and a most likely giant killer robot's butt to kick."

"You go get them, Sonic! And if you see Eggman, give him a double clobbering on the head for me!" Amy cheered, and while she was a bit annoyed they had to part ways so soon, she understood the situation.

"I'll make that a clobbering of at least ten times for you and everybody else!" Sonic promised with a grin with his trademark wink and thumbs up. He was about to dash off when Amy suddenly realized what he said and quickly grew annoyed.

"Hey, wait a minute!" She cried out, making him freeze in his tracks mid-step, slowly looking over his shoulder as she asked suspiciously and greatly offended. "If you want to see everybody else whenever you like, why is it you never want to see _me_ as much or run away from me, huh?"

Uh oh.

"Uh...I, um..." Sonic gulped nervously, with a scared smile as he was unable to come up with an answer to that without hurting her feelings as much. Of course he did want see her, but not when she was madly in love with him or glomping him against his will. With only one solution out of this, he waved her off with a quick goodbye. "See ya' later, Ames!"

With that, he ran away towards his destination in high-speed and high hopes to avoid in having the pink hedgehog catch up to him.

* * *

"HEY! You come back here, Sonic! _SONIC!_" Amy screamed angrily, which became faded the further away the blue hedgehog ran.

"Whew. That was close! I really gotta be more careful with what I say around her, assuming she doesn't clobber me with that Hammer!" Sonic sighed in relief as he ran as fast as he could, passing by more red buildings and freeing more aliens, fighting off against robots of different kinds.

As he ran, he took in the sights of the Aquarium Park that had to offer while mindful to watch out in case he ended up plummeting into the horrid watery wet blue nightmare he knew he was in for sooner or later...and he had a strong feeling that the sooner part is coming right up. He could make out the impressive decorations before leaving the town part behind, and soon found himself passing tall glass tanks with the water's reflections all around like moving lights.

Sonic had to admit, this was beautiful in it's own way as while he saw no fish, blue jellyfish glowing and dancing around the seaweed and other sea plants and vegetation. He then shook his head and chastised himself for being distracted. As much as he wanted to explore this place apart from getting wet, he wasted enough time as it was and time will definitely be slow when he's underwater.

"_**Remember to try out the new and improved water slides! Now with 20% less raw sewage!**_" Eggman's intercom blared once more.

"UGH!" Sonic groaned in disgust, before yelling up to the glass ceiling despite knowing that the evil man couldn't hear him. "As if you ruining Yacker's home with your toxic waste wasn't bad enough, you also have sewage in this place too!? I'm not a big fan of water, but come on! If I didn't know any better, I'd swear you bathe in egg-yolk! It's a mystery why you don't stink."

The blue hedgehog by then jumped into a spring which lead him to another area of the park, finding himself being confronted with more robots, this time these guys were dressed up as samurais and were swinging around their swords and dancing. He skid to a stop and while he raised an eyebrow questioningly, he broke the fourth wall by shrugging cluelessly at the readers/viewers before zooming towards them and leaped into the before using one attack he hasn't used in a while; his homing attack by bashing into the pieces of moving junk as though he was bowling ball prowling into pins which included the sound effects.

"If these guys were rehearsing for some kind of show in a dinner theatre, they're so fired." Sonic remarked as he ran with a smirk, the robots breaking into pieces and exploding behind him.

It wasn't long before he found another capsule with three more white Wisps whom he set free and chuckled when the cute little guys spun around him, only to look up ahead and flinched when he saw that right up ahead was the one thing he dreaded the most;

A large lake of water which separated him from the other side. Before he could end up plunging into the deep nightmare, he quickly skid to a complete stop, almost falling forward and nearly lost his balance.

"Whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa!" He cried out before finally regaining his footing and sighed in relief as he stood at the edge of water. If Sonic had been interested in this place before, he certainly wasn't now, no matter how pretty it was to look at.

While Sonic was recovering from the near falling in, the white aliens looked at him curiously to which he looked at them and, his face turning pink in embarrassment, coughed to clear his throat and said. "I'm fine. Just a near close call. Nothing to worry about."

The Wisps blinked in confusion before sharing a glance and then shrugged, seemingly deciding to write it off for the time being. Relieved that they didn't question him or keep on looking at him funny due to his hydrophobia, the blue hedgehog glanced at the watery death-trap once more and tried not to let his dismay show on his face, and not to let himself moan loudly.

"Well...time to put this thing to the test." Sonic announced to himself, which confused the aliens once more. He lowered the Sea-Mask to cover his eyes and pressed the button on the right side, activating it. It opened up a little and to his surprise, a glass mask formed around his muzzle and the rest of his face and closing around the rest of the band on his head, two ear coverings covering his ears and fit perfectly under and over his quills without any problems. It was big enough and easy enough to breathe in and it didn't steam up as he breathed.

It was almost like half of a diving helmet. He let out an impressed whistle.

"Good thing that it's unbreakable too. This thing is way past cool!" Sonic remarked, remembering that just before he disembarked the Egg Shuttle that Tails also reassured him that it wouldn't break even during a fight against robots, especially underwater. He then sighed, and braced himself. "Well, here goes."

He turned to the aliens and nodded with a thumbs up, "I'll take it from here. You guys head off home to be with your friends. Don't worry, I'm gonna save the rest of your kind. I promise."

Before the aliens could respond or however else they could respond to him, Sonic forced himself to gaze at his worst enemy, and out of habit as though worried that the mask might not work, the blue hedgehog held his breath and leaped into the water in a splash by curling into a ball, plunging and, to his dismay, sinking slowly like a rock to the bottom of the seabed. His eyes squeezed shut as he could feel the sensation of water on his entire body, he found that his face was perfectly dry and he didn't feel the water going up into his nose or ears at all, and he could still breathe.

On top of that, it wasn't as deep as he originally thought it was. Maybe about ten feet down to say the least. Hesitantly opening his eyes, and finding that no water was getting into the mask, Sonic looked around in surprise and shock while un-curling himself, standing at the bottom and while he shivered at the coldness of this horrible feeling, the fact that the Sea-Mask was indeed helping him breathe normally made this not as bad as it normally was. While he still couldn't swim, at least he wasn't drowning.

"_Whoa...! Huh!?_" Sonic gapped, placing his hands to his dry and covered face, before grinning in relief and excitement. "_Sweet! I really can talk with this thing! Best part, I can breathe! Tails, I'm gonna buy you tons of ice cream and chili dogs when we get home, and remind me to give you the best birthday ever!_"

He was about to take off when he was once again surprised, this time by the three aliens that he saved and were not only swimming around him and while he gasped and looked panicked that they were underwater without any protection like he was wearing, but to his shock and relief, they were breathing just fine as though they weren't underwater at all.

"_Aw, no fair. You guys are really lucky to breathe underwater._" The blue hedgehog sighed, feeling a bit jealous as he crossed his arms, pouting.

The Wisps blinked before going into his chest which surprised him, but then he realized that maybe, just maybe, their power of boost could help him just this once to get a head start.

"_Well, I'll take what I got for now. BOOST!_" Sonic shouted, and while it was still sluggish due to being underwater, he was greatly surprised that he could move underwater faster than he normally could, and suddenly he felt like he was running at his normal speed on dry land.

Before he knew it, as he dashed past the sea life and through the thick layers of water all around him, the blue hedgehog, gathering some air bubbles out of habit and just to be on the safe side, bounced onto a spring and leaped out of the water, landing safely onto a platform in a styled crouch before standing up, sopping wet but glad for not having to endure that terrifying experience of drowning for once in his life.

He was just about to let the Wisps go when Sonic found himself dashing foward once more by their power, much to his surprise and straight forward.

"Whoooooooooooaaaaaaaa!" The blue hedgehog exclaimed, and while he was having fun while he was at it, he didn't want to fully use their Hyper-Go-Ons and soon found himself heading straight towards another section of water. While finding himself grateful for not deactivating the Sea-Mask, he realized that they must've sensed that he'd have to go through this section and were actually helping him run on top of it.

While Sonic was capable of doing so himself, the fact that their powers of Boost was really helping and making it actually a bit fun, fully unaware that right underneath them was a menacing figure watching them with a smile that would give anyone bad vibes and nightmares, before swimming away. Soon enough, he reached the other side and once he stopped, the white aliens flew out of him and he looked at them in surprise.

"I...guess you guys sensed that I can't swim, right?" Sonic asked, sheepishly scratching the back of his head, his face turning pink once again. The aliens shared a glance and nodded, one of them hovering over and patted him on the head. He smiled warmly as the other two joined in. "You were helping me for this part to get a head start."

"#$% $%#." One of the adorable aliens muttered, nodding. Sonic chuckled.

"Aw, you guys. Thanks for looking out for me. You're the best." The blue hedgehog told them, patting each one on the head. "How could anybody like Baldy Nosehair kidnap and hurt you?"

His new friends squealed and hugged him which made him laugh before they said their goodbyes and flew off, hopefully back to Planet Wisp. Sonic's smile widened and while he felt bad for having used up more of their power than he wanted, he was relieved that it still wasn't enough to drain them completely and turn them into...whatever it was that Eggman knew of.

"Well, at least I don't have to worry about drowning for once." He said to himself, deactivating the Sea-Mask and pushing the goggles back onto his forehead for the time being. While he still didn't like being underwater, this new experience wasn't as terrifying as it had been before. "Maybe this won't be so bad after all, as long as I've got this awesome Sea-Mask."

No sooner had the words left his mouth, there was that musical moaning which echoed all around the entire area which made him gasp and looked around in alarm. Nervously, Sonic looked over his shoulder to gaze at the water as the sudden reminder of the other potiental danger in this place filled his mind.

"...On the other hand...I don't fancy myself being fish food while I'm here." He muttered, his voice quivering more than he wanted. The blue hedgehog really didn't like how that Whale he'd seen twice earlier looked at him, and while the more reassuring side of him was saying that it's not as bad as he thinks, the other part of him was urging him to not take any chances, and he didn't want to.

Soinc couldn't help but rub his arms as he felt the goosebumps, while shivering at the coldness of his damp fur and bare arms, whimpering. Then he realized how he was reacting and shook his head rapidly.

"Come on, Sonic! Pull yourself together!" He chasited himself, placing a palm over his face. "You got this."

Recollecting himself, the teenage hero then dashed off once more, hoping to find more aliens as well as turn off the generator. Because the sooner he did, the quicker he could reunite with Tails and Yacker and get out of this world as well as avoid the possibility of the whale having him for lunch.

* * *

"_**Water you waiting for? Climb aboard the exotic aquarium for a boatload of-Argh, who writes this drivel?**_" Eggman's voice was heard once more, and from the sounds of it, he couldn't tell if he liked this announcement or not.

"_**You do, boss.**_" Orbot's voice was heard next.

"_**Oh, you're right, I do! Ha ha, I'm hilarious!**_" The evil scientist's voice cackled.

"_**Not so sure about that. Dr. Eggman.**_" Decoe's voice said uneasily.

"_**Yeah, I don't think anybody would laugh at your jokes.**_" Next came Becoe's voice.

"_**Oh, shut up!**_" Eggman yelled in annoyance.

Sonic couldn't help but snicker as he glided his way down the grind rail while shaking his head with a smirk with the way how Eggman had unknowingly recorded one of the most embarrassing conversations in the universe.

"_Pfft!_ The only thing hilarious about you is when you end up losing or when you end up with bad luck, Ro-butt-nik." The blue hedgehog stated, leaping off the grind rail and bolted onwards as he tried not to be too distracted by the admittedly nice decors of the red buildings and how the inside of one of them again reminded him of Chun-Nan.

Using an elevator that was really slow and fighting off more robots along the way, as well as saving more aliens who were helping him, Sonic eventually found himself reaching a dead end which the only way to continue forward was to, much to his dismay, enter another large body of water. Thankfully he skid to a stop and after thanking the aliens for helping him with their powers and wishing them well and sending them off to their freedom, he once again activated his Sea-Mask to keep himself from drowning.

"Here I go again." The blue hedgehog grumbled, clearly nervous and thanking his lucky stars for his best friend's latest invention. "I wish there were a device that can keep me afloat, or at least an alien with the power of aquamarine."

Bracing himself once more, Sonic dove into the sloshy substance and allowed himself, or at least forced himself to allow himself to sink to the bottom, before taking off as fast as he could. As he ran in a sluggish pace due to the fact that water always decreased his speed dramatically, he passed by several sea creatures including a school of fish, and came across a current leading towards to thankfully the right direciton. He allowed it to carry him and it wasn't long before he was in a much deeper but much wider part of the underwater world, still miles away from the surface.

"_If I didn't have this mask, I'd be really panicking and gasping for air right now. Still a scary experience, though. But hey, as long as I'm not drowning, I can manage!_" Sonic said to himself, wading his way forward and taking in the sights of the underwater world, deciding to take in the sights to keep himself in a good mood as he knew that this will take a while to reach the surface again.

Large jellyfish bobbled from here to there with ease, little fish happily swimming and by the looks of it, playing, and as Sonic continued onward though not quite half way, he was suddenly greeted by a couple of small and adorable sea horses no bigger than his thumb. They swam around him curiously and he couldn't help but smile which made him stop and stood there, feeling really at ease despite that he was in his worst nightmares.

"_Hiya._" The blue hedgehog greeted, and chuckled when they curiously rubbed against his arms before floating in front of him. He held up a hand and allowed them to curl their tails around his fingers. "_Well, aren't you guys darn cute? If only I could swim and not be so afraid as much or rely on my mask here, I'd enjoy this even more._"

The sea horses made cute noises which, thanks to the speakers of the Sea-Mask, he could hear clearly and smiled. "_Hey, could you guys show me where I can find the way to dry land? And a capsule with a little unusual guy inside? Alien but cute looking? Any kind of colour?_"

Blinking, Sonic then shrugged and shook his head. "_I'm talking to Sea Horses. They probably have no clue with what I'm even saying, especially underwater._"

Just as he was about to continue onward, the blue hedgehog and pretty much all of the sea life around him heard that dreaded musical moan that made his stomach drop, one that made his heart leap into his throat as his greatest fears since coming here, apart from being trapped underwater, was suddenly coming true. Sonic looked around and soon he and the sea horses who gave out terrified high-pitched cries saw the terrifying sight that was coming straight towards them from their left. The biggest sea creature of this world.

And it was still smiling in a way that could only mean one thing; it was hungry.

"_**WHALE!**_" Sonic screamed in horror, and the sea horses gave out their own screams with eyes widening in fear before swimming away, as did the other sea life. Even the sharks who were also looking at him hungrily freaked out and swam away.

All of the admiration of this world that the blue hedgehog felt was now gone in an instant, replaced by the fear of being trapped in the deep depths of the watery nightmare that slowed his speed, as well as the sheer terror of being eaten by a giant monster that ruled this world and for a brief second he hallucinated yet again, the whale mentally replaced by the Werehog grinning evilly at him, ready to devour him or swallow him whole before the teenage hedgehog was brought back to reality, and the whale was still coming towards him.

The terrified teenager did the only thing he could think of despite that his speed wouldn't work here, and he wished he had the white Wisps inside him out of this; he turned and ran as fast as the water could allow him.

"_**AAAAAAAAHHHHHH!**_" He screamed as he ran, but the water's current was slowing him down so much. He tried bouncing and hopping but that only made things worse. The blue hedgehog looked over his shoulder and gasped as his eyes widened further and his emerald irises shrinking back in fright as the whale was rapidly getting closer and closer.

At the same time, it's smile widened which made him even more frightened as he knew for certain that it was so hungry and possibly so bored with having the same meals of other sea life here that it decided that the blue hedgehog was to be it's next tasty treat.

"_NO! Don't eat me! I'm not a fish! I'm a hedgehog!_" Sonic exclaimed as he desperately willed himself to go faster, before screaming out pleadingly. "_HELP! HEEEEEELPPPP!_"

The terrified hedgehog swung his arms to try and get out of this and maybe head back to where he came from just to avoid in being eaten, and suddenly he rediscovered another reason to fear the water, especially the ocean. This was worse than the time when that Orca Whale tried to eat him while he was attempting to reach the crash site Tails ended up in during the Chaos crisis, and at least back then he'd been running on land, being able to escape with ease.

Now, he was trapped in his worst fears with no way out and was about to become the Beluga Whale's meal. When Sonic looked over his shoulder again, he gasped once more as the giant sea-monster opened it's mouth wide to reveal it's flattened but still sharp rows of teeth, it's massive insides and enormous uvula in front of the throat leading into the stomach. That just confirmed his suspicions and fears even more.

"_TEETH!_" Sonic yelped, and seeing that he wasn't going to make it, desperately held onto the nearest pole that was built in by Eggman and held on tightly, hoping that he could at least avoid in being sucked in despite knowing that he could easily be gobbled up whole once it was close enough. It was bad enough to be trapped in his phobia, now he had to face this, and what was worse, he was going to die. This time he was certain of it.

The Whale by then began swallowing gallons of water as it got closer and closer, creating a powerful current that sucked everything in, and Sonic felt his legs lift from the rocky ground and held onto the pole for dear life, fear mounting onto fear. Even the schools of fish were unfortunately surcummbed to the currents and were sucked into the mouth and swallowed down towards their digestive doom.

'_At this rate, I'm next!_' The blue hedgehog thought, unable to believe that this was the end of him. Once more, he screamed loudly. "_**AAAAAAAHHHHH! HELP ME!**_"

Unfortunately, the Whale, seeing that it's new meal was stubborn, swam up closer and decided to take things to the next level. It loomed over Sonic who began to lose his grip, his still dry face sweating in fear even though he was freezing in the icy cold water, and squeezed his eyes shut to brace himself for his bitter end. The giant sea mammal closed it's massive lips around the hedgehog's waist, his legs now trapped within the mouth which made Sonic scream as he realized that he was about to be chewed up in half first before being gulped whole and chewed into pieces, which was unusual.

"_**AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH!**_" Sonic shouted while being forced to let go, and while the grip around him was somehow soft and gentle but strong enough to keep him trapped, not even the rows of teeth coming to chomp his bottom half off, he struggled and squirmed to pull himself free and out of the giant mouth. So focused on trying to free himself, the trapped hedgehog didn't even notice that the whale was now swimming to it's left while swallowing the water it gulped down, leaving an air bubble inside.

"_Let me go!_" The blue hedgehog exclaimed, only to scream in terror he felt the warm and slimy tongue lick his stomach while the mouth opened slightly which allowed the tongue to scoop him the rest of the way in as the whale slammed it's jaws shut before anymore water could get in, leaving him trapped inside. The Whale smiled in satisfaction before continuing onward, unknowingly to the trapped hero towards where he wanted to go.

Sonic cried out as he landed on his back in the middle of the massive tongue that was soft and squishy, but also very slimy, thankfully still in one piece and not in any pain at all. Noticing that there was hardly any water, he hesitantly opened his eyes and regretted it. All around him was the rows of teeth that were about his size, the fleshly ceiling of the cave that was really the inside of the mouth, and behind him was the uvula, and the entrance down the throat and towards the stomach. But the water had been swallowed, leaving behind puddles that were ankle deep, if that.

"Oh no...!" The frightened hedgehog whispered, shivering both in the cold and in fear, daring not to deactivate the Sea-Mask since there was a chance of the lack of oxygen despite that he was out of the water. "I bet he wants to taste me first before swallowing me up."

Even worse, the hallucination of the Werehog flared up again, this time with Sonic himself being inside it's mouth with all the sharp teeth in place, and he could practically hear the giant monster moan in pure delight for finally having eaten it's prey, and this time he wouldn't be able to escape. As embarrassing as it was, like he had done it before yesterday, and in his last adventure...

The hero of Mobius began to cry.

"LET ME OUT! LET ME OUT, PLEASE! HELP! HELP! SOMEBODY GET ME OUTTA OF THIS WHALE!" He screamed, tears falling and making the inside of his Sea-Mask damp. The helpless hedgehog then sobbed as he then forced himself to accept his fate and waited to be licked and tasted and then to be swallowed alive where he would then end up joining the already eaten fish inside the stomach.

As Sonic cried, unbeknownst to him the Whale resurfaced and stopped just at the edge of the other side of the dry land. But what he did notice was that the sea-monster that had gobbled him up opened up it's mouth and at first for that frightening heart-stopping moment thought that it was going to swallow more water and swallow him down into the stomach. What he didn't expect was to see not more water, but fresh air and dry land...where he had wanted to go as it continued onward to where he'd never seen before.

"Huh?" Sonic blinked, dumbfounded, before yelping as the tongue lifted him up, but rather than tossing him backwards towards the throat, instead it gently lifted him outside of the mouth and carefully dropped him onto the solid ground before it retreated back into the mouth. Stunned and bewildered that he was set free, out of the water and into the right direction, the blue hedgehog looked at the Whale who smiled at him, this time more warmly than before, looking far more friendly.

Still confused and wondering if he was having a different kind of hallucinations, Sonic stood up slowly and could only stare at the Whale that had swallowed him only to take him to the right place. Realization slowly dawned onto him as his fears and sorrow ebbed away.

"You didn't plan on eating me at all, did you?" Sonic murmured, and the Whale, somehow understanding him, nodded. "You were following me because you knew I was going to free your planet from Eggman's Amusement Park, and only swallowed me so you could help me?"

Again the Whale nodded, carefully nuzzling it's face onto the blue hedgehog's entire body which made him laugh at the tickling sensation, and while he was still hesitant, the more reassuring side of him continued to tell him that there was no reason to be scared anymore. Finally sensing the good within the giant sea animal, he smiled.

"Wow. Thanks. For a while there, I kinda thought you were gonna eat me and that the way how you smiled gave me the creeps." Sonic nervously prodded his fingers together. "But now I see that you knew that I was going to free this world and that I wasn't just some tourist."

The Whale gave him an understanding look in it's eyes.

"Heh, looks really can be deceiving. I'm sorry for misinterpreting you." He continued, rubbing the back of his head sheepishly. "It's been a stressful couple of months for me, especially yesterday. But I promise I'll free your world once I shut off the generator that's holding it to Egghead's park."

His newfound friend seemed happy with his determination and courage, because it nuzzled him again before giving out another musical moan, this time sounding as though it was singing and then sank deep underwater once more. Sonic waved a goodbye to it before sighing with a smile, his fears of the whale now completely gone.

"Not sure if the big guy's this world's leader or just wanting help, but I'm not scared anymore." He said to himself, muttering softly to the already gone kind mammal. "Thank you, my friend. I won't let you down."

Now his determination to save this world from Eggman's clutches renewed, and despite his fear of water still in place despite having the Sea-Mask, Sonic deactivated it with his smirk fully in place and ran off on dry land as much as possible before he was to be forced underwater again. But he was okay with it this time, now that he knew that the Whale wasn't a threat after all.

* * *

Meanwhile, in another drier part of the Aquarium Park in the restaurant parts, Tails and Yacker, while having greeted the freed Wisps that they knew that Sonic had saved, were wandering around for any sort of clues that seemed out of place to help out their true blue friend.

It wasn't until Yacker stopped in his tracks as he gazed at his fellow Wisps in concern, which made Tails this and paused as well. "Is something up, Yacker?"

"#$% # ." Yacker babbled, which the eight year old fox pulled out his translator to see what his alien friend was saying.

"You want to...follow the ends of the tome?" The young kit raised an eyebrow, before trying again. "No, that's not right. Sorry."

The curled-headed alien shook his head, sighing.

"Yeah, I really gotta do something about this, huh?" Tails sheepishly rubbed the back of his head, before reading the code again. "I see. You want to go with your friends to make sure they make it home safely, and figure out how to help Sonic?"

The cute Wisp nodded, though he did look a bit hesitant on leaving the young fox behind, but Tails just smiled as he reassured him. "It's okay, Yacker. I'll tell Sonic where you went. He'll understand wholeheartedly."

He then giggled, adding. "In fact, you two guys are very alike. Always wanting to help out others, especially our friends."

That made Yacker blush sheepishly, as he remembered Sonic tell him the same thing early this morning. He then nuzzled his head against Tails' cheek which made the young Mobian laugh affectionately.

"Guess I'll see you later, then. Just be very careful, okay? I don't want you to get caught by Baldy Nosehair." Tails responded after a little while.

Yacker nodded with an attempt to salute, which made him even more adorable. Waving a goodbye to the fox, the alien flew off with his friends to make sure they made it home safely as well as guide other Wisps to safety while he was here. Tails in the meantime, while suddenly very worried about his alien friend, continued onward himself before hearing his stomach grumble.

"Boy, I'm really hungry. Maybe I should try that Bucket O' Sushi. It can't be that bad...right?" He said to himself, following the signs to find the aforementioned restaurant.

It hadn't taken him long until he found the right place, with a large sign that said, "BUCKET O' SUSHI" above the Chun-Nan looking Sushi bar. As he approached the counter to make his order, over, he began hearing a strangely familiar robotic but child-like voice singing.

"_~Bucket O' Sushi, 1, 2, 3, Perfect experience for you and me~_" The voice was singing, which the lyrics sounded really odd.

"Excuse me?" Tails called out from the counter. "I'd like some Sushi, please."

"Huh? Why does that voice sound familiar?" The owner of the voice asked, puzzled, before Tails heard not foot steps, but a slight flight approaching. The owner revealed himself to be none other than Bokkun, earing an apron, a chef's hat and chop sticks in each hand.

Both of them stared at each other for a split second before Tails and Bokkun realized who they were each staring at, and screamed loudly in shock.

"AAAAHHHH! I-It's you! What're you doing here!?" They both exclaimed simultaneously while pointing at each other with wide-eyed expression.

"Oh, don't tell me Sonic's around messing with Dr. Eggman's plans around here!" Bokkun yelled angrily as he realized what this meant. His boss was not going to like this at all.

"That's exactly what he's doing right now, and you'd better not go out and stop him, 'cause he'll never lose even to Eggman's giant robots!" Tails declared, glaring at one of his and Sonic's enemies.

That seemed to amuse the smallest robot as he smirked evilly, knowing full well of the blue hedgehog's fears. "Even in a place like this? I know that he can't swim and is scared of water. Hehehehehe!"

The two-tailed fox smirked confidently, deciding not to reveal his latest invention and instead said. "He's handled his fears before, and he can do it again. I believe in my best buddy."

"Yeah, well, things are about to be different before you two twerps get the chance to go home." Bokkun retorted.

Tails responded by mimicking Sonic's usual taunts by pulling his bottom eye-lid down and giving the robot a raspberry.

"Don't you go do that at the restaurant! Didn't anybody teach you any manners!? You're acting just like that hedgehog!" The robot yelled, feeling insulted.

"You forget that Sonic's my big brother, and I've always to be just like him. Guess he's really rubbed it off on me." The eight year old Mobian winked, before saying. "Anyway, I'm here to try some Sushi before I go find him, which is why I called out for the chef."

That instantly somehow lifted Bokkun's mood because he exclaimed excitedly. "One tray of Sushi coming right up! Just give me a few minutes."

"Wait a minute!" Tails exclaimed, feeling his heart drop into his stomach and a feeling of dread forming. "Bokkun, _you're_ the Bucket O' Sushi Cook!?"

"Yep!" Bokkun replied happily, before turning and returned to the kitchen.

Now left alone, and while he hoped that it wouldn't be as bad as he was feeling, his more safer side of him was screaming at him to forget about it and heed Sonic's words.

"Oh, this does not bode well for my eating experience." The eight year old groaned.

If this was going to be as bad as it sounded, Tails was going to definitely heed Sonic's warnings from now on.

* * *

**A/N: Sorry that this chapter wasn't as action packed, but hopefully the next one will be better. I don't think Aquarium Park will be as long as both Starlight Carnival and Planet Wisp, but we'll see what happens as we're nearing the end of this story but still a far way to go.**

**See you later!**


	13. Chapter 13: Serving a Clobbering

**Author's Note: I think this chapter will be the last of Aquarium Park and lead towards the next and final world of this story. Hard to say at this point.**

**To Snake Screamer: That's true. Not to mention the last two stretches of this story that are still yet to come.**

**Anyway, happy reading!**

**I do not own Sonic The Hedgehog. All rights belong to Sega.**

* * *

_Chapter 13: Serving a Clobbering._

"_DRILL!_" Sonic shouted as, while underwater once again after going through more obstacles including avoiding a giant robotic Crab, fighting against fish-robots and shark-robots, freed a yellow Wisp after saving several others like orange ones that really came in handy when he couldn't find a spring to catapault him up to the surface.

In a weird way, instead of drilling underground, the blue hedgehog spun through the water like a torpedo while passing by normal fish and drilling through more fish-robots that were smashed into pieces before they had a chance to attack him and the alien that was currently lending him it's power. None the less, with the Sea-Mask helping him breathe, he had no worries about drowning.

By this time, the drill power stopped and Sonic returned to normal, underwater, while the yellow alien emerged from inside him. While wondering why they weren't at the surface yet, he soon discovered it's reason. One, the way up was too high for it to reach, and two, they were right in front of another capsule that was also underwater, with another trapped Wisp deep inside.

"_The more I find these capsules in dangerous places, the more angry I get with that Egghead._" The blue hedgehog groaned, shaking his head in dismay before opening the capsule, releasing another orange Wisp who was very relieved before greeting it's fellow alien who swam around happily to be reunited with it.

Though as he watched, Sonic couldn't help but notice how they were communicating with expressions he knew all too well; how they were worried for each other's safety, wondering so many things that could have happened, and so happy that they are together again. It warmed his heart as it gave him some memories of his time with Tails, and not just how he was so relieved that his little brother was freed and safe and sound.

'_Man. It reminds me of...the old times._' He thought to himself.

* * *

_**Flash-Back: A long time ago...**_

_"Tails! Tails!?" A younger Sonic cried out frantically, searching around the forest he and his newest best friend, whom he'd come to grow so quickly to bond...to deeply love as family, got lost in while trying to find the next Chaos Emerald, having found five already. Somehow they ended up separated during a fight against another large robot Robotnik had sent out to destroy them._

_The blue hedgehog searched around in a panic, fearing for the young kit's safety. Even as he tried to stay calm, like he always had, the eleven year old found that he couldn't. The four year old fox could be anywhere, and while he felt that Tails is okay, he couldn't help but fear for the worst._

_"Tails, where are you, buddy!? Can ya' hear me!? Please, answer!" Sonic called out, though the only response he got was his own voice echoing through out the thickness of the forest. "TAILS!"_

_"Sonic?" Finally a reponse, faint but still loud enough for the blue hedgehog's sensitive ears to hear._

_"Tails?" The young hero of Mobius whispered, listening out carefully. Surely enough, he could hear his young friend's voice call out his name again, coming from his right. Relief and fear overwhelming him, Sonic followed the source with his incredible speed._

_"Sonic!" Tails called out again, this time louder as the aforementioned hedgehog was getting closer and closer._

_Finally, emerging from the thickest part of the woods and bursting through the bushes, Sonic finally found the young two-tailed fox who jumped a little at his sudden appearance, before relaxing a little to see him, though looking really scared and, not too phsyically hurt, but more emotionally hurt. It broke his heart._

_"Tails!" Sonic gasped, quickly rushing over and placed his hands on Tails' shoulders, asking frantically. "Are you okay, li'l buddy?"_

_"I-I'm okay. Just a bit shaken and bruised." Was his friend's response, having a couple of bruises on his left arm and cheek, but otherwise okay._

_The blue hedgehog in relief and smiled emotionally. "What a relief."_

_Before Tails could speak, Sonic immediately pulled him into a tight hug, causing the younger Mobian to gasp in surprise, apparently having felt a little while that he was abandoned again. Though given how his best friend had come to find him, being worried and relieved to see him in one piece had put the fox's doubts aside, and being hugged like this all but washed it away._

_"Oh man, Tails. I was so worried...!" Sonic whispered, tiny traces of tears leaking in the corners of his eyes._

_"You were really worried...about me?" The four year old fox asked, surprised, and feeling really wanted._

_"'Couse I was." The eleven year old hedgehog replied, looking at his friend's sky-blue eyes with his own emerald ones. "You had me scared. I thought I lost ya' for a while, but I knew that you were okay."_

_Tails felt even more emotional to hear this, as though relieved that Sonic was worried so much, and hugged the blue hedgehog back, tears forming in his eyes and began to cry even though he tried not to. "I'm sorry...It's all my fault."_

_Sonic only held him closer and tighter, gently stroking the back of his younger friend's head. "Shhhh...It's okay. It's not your fault. I'm here...everything's gonna be alright, I promise."_

_"I...I was so scared. I thought that..." The two-tailed fox sniffled, his tears damping the blue hedgehog's chest._

_"Shhhh...Tails, it's okay. I'm not leaving you behind." The older Mobian whispered, and to the younger Mobian's surprise, he kissed him gently on top of his head. "It's alright, li'l bro."_

_"L-Li'l bro?" Tails asked, stunned beyond belief._

_Sonic nodded, smiling at him warmly. "Tails, you're much more to me than just my best friend. You're the little brother I never had."_

_"R-Really? Y-You care about me as-as your b-brother?"_

_"You bet!" The blue hedgehog chuckled. "I love you, Tails. I love you so much, dude."_

_"S-Sonic...!" The two-tailed fox smiled emotionally, no longer feeling so alone as he had gained more than just a best friend, he gained a brother. A family, someone who cared so much about him. He hugged his newly adoptive older brother. "I love you too, big bro...!"_

_"Aw, Tails." Sonic nuzzled his head gently on top of Tails', his heart warmed brightly that not only he called the little fox his brother, but being called his big brother as well._

_It was then that Sonic really wanted to adopt Tails as his little brother, and he promised that when this journey was over, they were going home together, as best friends, and brothers._

* * *

_**Back in the Present...**_

Thinking about that day made Sonic smile and nodded to himself. He was then that he promised himself that once this adventure was over, and while he was going to miss Yacker and the Wisps, the blue hedgehog was going to keep to his promise to Tails and the two of them were going on their planned adventure together. He then realized something and felt like smacking himself for having done so sooner.

'_I can't believe I've been so focused on missing Chip I hardly had any thought about Tails, even when I made that promise yesterday. I really gotta make it up to him._' The blue hedgehog thought to himself, shaking his head. As much as it hurt to think as such, but while he deeply missed the Light Guardian of Mobius, he would be devastated if he'd never seen his best friend/little brother anymore and they had been together for years, as he had with the rest of his friends.

Still, he treated all of them differently but at the same time they were all equals.

But just as Sonic snapped out of his thoughts and was about to talk to the two Wisps, he heard rapid movement coming from above and looked up. To his shock as he gasped, were two Jawz and robots diving down towards all three of them, with nets in place ready to recapture the aliens.

"_Hey, look out!_" He cried out, grabbing the two Wisps who looked up and saw what was happening and while they shrieked which sounded gurbled due to being underwater, Sonic tried his best to jump out of the way as quickly as he could. However, because the water decreased speed, especially his own, it was a slow floating movement and for a split second he thought they weren't going to make it.

Thankfully, they narrowly avoided the nets and the incoming attacks before the blue hedgehog landed on the seabed, releasing the aliens from his arms as he glared at the robots that came uninvited.

"_These guys are persistent, aren't they?_" Sonic grumbled, and without second thought, he quickly tried to spin dash into them and while it was slow going and he quickly felt panicked on how the water was dragging him, he managed to hit two, before kicking another and defeating them, but because of his disadvantage, the robots are built to adapt in water and thus were able to attack him. One managed to swim really fast and before the blue hedgehog could even dodge, it bashed him into the chest, sending him backwards as he cried out.

Sonic was then hit by another from the side as he was caught off-guard before hitting the ground hard, though not as hard but still. Pushing himself up while rolling out of the way to avoid another Fish-Bot attacking him, glaring at it as he recovered. "_Hey! Not cool!_"

As he tried to come up with a plan to take care of this problem, the yellow and orange Wisp swum up to him and as the blue hedgehog glanced at them, they were waving about trying to communicate. Even though he couldn't understand what they were saying, Sonic felt that they wanted to help.

"_Guess we should team up, the three of us! Ready to take out these guys?_" He asked, and the two aliens nodded. He smirked despite having already used the power of drill, but to get out of this mess there wasn't much of a choice. The blue hedgehog and the two Wisps turned their attention back to the robots, and the yellow Wisp went back inside him.

"_DRILL!_"

Sonic once again turned into a yellow drill and using the same strategy from before, spun around and taking out the Jawz and the other Fish-Bots that were now at the disadvantage instead of the other way around. But as the blue hedgehog returned to normal and the yellow Wisp coming out of him, another robot from above almost hit him on the face, but to his horror it pushed the button of his Sea-Mask which, in a split second moment, he imagined the horrible outcome of a bad timing of the robot deactivating it and causing it to open.

_"OH NO!-MRMPH!" Sonic was cut off when his face was now covered and underwater, and he had to quickly close his mouth to avoid in gulping down the horrid liquid that cut his air-supply off. Suddenly his calmed nerve in making through this without drowning was all but gone in an instant because of a stupid robot touching his Sea-Mask._

_In it's place was the need to breathe, his lungs screaming for oxygen, the horrible sound of drowning and the only thing remaining dry was his eyes due to the goggles. The blue hedgehog quickly held his throat as he made panicking noises in a desperate need to get to the surface. IMMEDIATELY!_

_Fear gripping him as he couldn't do anything but try and not drown, and the robot getting closer and closer, Sonic turned to the orange Wisp who along with the yellow one were swimming at him with curious and then quickly concerned looks, and he quickly pointed out pleadingly just as he was beginning to lose consciousness due the lack of communication. He willed and begged with all his heart and his expression...but in the end the aliens didn't get it and he was left collapsing onto his knees and lost consciousness..._

"_NOOOOO!_" Sonic screamed, coming back to reality while clutching his throat and closed his mouth while bracing himself for that horrible feeling and sound of drowning. But after a moment or two, it didn't open or even deactivate. Blinking in confusion and realization, he touched the mask that was still on and allowing him to still breathe.

It was then that he realized that, in one of those rare occasions, Tails forgot to mention that the Sea-Mask cannot be deactivated while underwater. Another advantage that Sonic was suddenly grateful for. Before he could sigh in relief, the Wisps' panicked squeals brought him back to his senses and he quickly looked up to see the robot getting closer and closer. Knowing what to do, he nodded to the orange Wisp who, getting the picture, emerged into his body.

"_ROCKET!_"

Shooting upward as he transformed into a rocket once more, the blue hedgehog took out the last remaining robot and continued on towards the surface, emerging like a jet missile before returning to normal and landed on the roof of another building gently in a small crouch. Sighing in relief, Sonic stood up just as the alien flew out of him and the yellow one joined them a few seconds later.

Just then, before Sonic could even thank his new friends, Eggman's intercom blared all around them once again. This time sounding rather panicked just as they heard glass breaking behind and above them, and the sound of water spilling. When the trio turned to see what it is, their eyes widened as they saw why. The blue hedgehog felt colour drain from his face when he saw this.

"_**Welcome to the exotic aquarium! Any water you may notice on the floor is the result of our diligent house cleaning staff's mopping! And not evidence of a dangerous leak in the-oh, heck with it! RUN FOR YOUR LIVES!**_"

"For once, even with the Sea-Mask...that's something I have to agree on with Eggman...!" The teenager muttered in a high-pitched squeak in his voice he didn't want as the leak was getting bigger and bigger as he and the two Wisps noticed an Octopus wrongly holding a broken pole and having accidentally thrust it into the glass above them.

It then spilled entirely from the newly made hole and water began gushing down, quickly beginning to fill the tunnel. Sonic and the aliens shared a horrified glance and while the latter two had nothing to worry about, the blue hedgehog was glad he didn't deactivate his mask, or else things would get worse...except the Octopus, a giant one at that, came along with it.

"AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH! RUN! RUN FOR ALL THINGS GOOD, RUN!" Sonic screamed as he grabbed his two friends before taking off in high speed across the rooves of the buildings as fast as he could as the water flooded the road below and began to rise quickly. Even with the generator finally in sights, the blue hedgehog focused on trying to get away from the rising tides as well as the giant Octopus that caused this to happen.

Unfortunately they reached a dead end which could only be continued if Sonic dove underwater once more, which left several problems; with the Octopus around, he wouldn't have enough time. Skidding to a stop, the blue hedgehog stumbled while letting go of the aliens who tried to pull him back up. Sadly they all tumbled over with cries of alarm before landing with a big splash with the water levels reaching to where they were even as they landed into the pool of water continuing the way to the generator.

But the worse part was that the rising tide got to where they are in the matter of seconds and Sonic and the two Wisps found that they ended up still too far from the pool which was now underwater. The aliens swum around him before pointing frantically behind him. Eyes widening in horror, he looked over his shoulder and found the Octopus coming towards them, seemingly still focused on the pole. Gasping at the approaching danger that he knew he was in big trouble of along with the Wisps, Sonic pulled them aside and hidden behind a now underwater building as he knew that running and sinking down would do no good.

"_I'm never going through this underwater ever again!_" Sonic whispered, shiving both in the cold for being constantly underwater for hours, and in fear as while he didn't want to hurt the Octopus, he was terrified for the continuous dangers of sea creatures that posed a threat. Sure he'd been okay so far, but being underwater will always be a terrifying experience he doesn't want to do but times like this has no choice.

Just as he tried to come up with a way to get himself and his new friends out of this mess, they all cried out in alarm as giant tentacles appeared from view but to their surprise they didn't go near them. Instead the tentacles of the Octopus, which was orange like one of the Wisps, retreated and they could hear the gurbled moaning from the sea creature. Sharing a confused and hesitant glance, Sonic and the two aliens peered from around the corner of the building and found that it hadn't been playing with a pole at all.

It accidentally slightly impaled itself with it and pulled it out wherever it ended up from and tried to get it out of one of the tentacles it was stuck in. From the look in it's eyes, the Octopus looked to be in pain. While it was risky to try and approach it, Sonic couldn't help but feel sorry for it and the Wisps definitely felt sympathy for the sea animal.

"_Poor guy. Even everybody here in the ocean have to live with Eggman's construction and take-over._" The blue hedgehog muttered, before narrowing his eyes and decided to take the risk in helping it, his fear dimming. While the two Wisps glanced at him curiously, he began approaching the over-sized squid. "_Yo, big guy!_"

Hearing his voice, the Octopus stopped what it was doing and gazed down at the approaching, and unusual in it's opinion, young Mobian. Narrowing it's eyes, it began raising it's tentacles which made the teenage hedgehog stop with a soft gasp.

"_Whoa, hey! Easy, easy._" Sonic quickly held up his hands in an attempt to get it to relax and calm down. "_I won't hurt you, I promise. I just want to help. I couldn't help but notice that you're having trouble with that pole and I wanted to see if I can pull it out for ya'._"

The orange Wisp and the yellow Wisp, seeing their savior's attempts to calm the Octopus down, shared a worried glance before nodding with determination and swum up to his side, and while they couldn't speak sea-language either, they attempted to communicate with it as well. This seemed to work as the Octopus' expression softened to a hesitant but pained and somewhat relaxed one. Sonic, surprised that the aliens had helped him, sighed in relief and gave the sea animal a reassuring smile.

"_Lemme see that pole, 'kay?_" He requested. The Octopus, somewhat hesitant, did so and slowly held it out to him. The blue hedgehog gulped slightly, but relaxed a little when he saw how it was stuck and winced. It was pretty deep, which meant that if he pulled it out, it'll bleed. Then, remembering the Wisps' power of healing, he had an idea.

"_Hey, when I pull this thing out, can you guys use your powers to heal the wound? It isn't gonna be pretty since this thing's pretty deep in._" Sonic asked, with an expression from his eyes that went deep into his heart and soul of needing help and a pure request. Somehow understanding him, the two aliens nodded.

Nodding in return, the blue hedgehog carefully approached the tentacle and turned to the Octopus, cautioning. "_This is gonna hurt, so hold still._"

Receiving a nod from the giant sea animal, Sonic grabbed hold of the pole and, with the help of the two Wisps who decided to help pull it out, tugged and pulled hard, while the Octopus winced in pain while trying to hold still. It took a couple of tries, but finally the trio successfully pulled it out with a yank. The blue hedgehog stumbled a bit awkwardly, before recovering while the aliens, seeing blood being to float out, quickly went over to the wound and with their combined powers, glowed in colours in using their healing energy, which healed and closed up the injury, causing it to vanish.

"_Yeah! Nice job, guys!_" Sonic praised, sharing high-fives with his two friends, only for all three of them to be wrapped tightly by the healed tentacle which caused them to cry out in alarm and he exclaimed while they are being lifted towards the Octopus' face. "_AAAH! H-hey! Wait!_"

The Octopus seemingly ignored him and continued to draw the hedgehog and the two Wisps closer, while the aliens shivered in renewed fear and Sonic tried to pull himself and his two friends out of the tight and sticky grip. To their surprise, the giant sea creature gently rubbed them against it's face just below it's eyes. It was surprisingly soft and squishy and ticklish.

"_W-whoa! Easy there! We love you too._" Sonic chuckled, and the Wisps squealed in agreement as they realized that it was only thanking them for helping it. After a little while, the giant Octopus gently puts them down to just on the edge of where the blue hedgehog needs to go before waving goodbye and then swimming away, back to where it came from.

The young hero smiled with a sigh, even more relaxed now before receiving the same treating of being hugged and nuzzled by his two friends which made him laugh again. "Aw, you guys. There's no need to thank me. I should be thanking you!"

Squealing and blushing at the compliment and gratitude, the two Wisps beamed at their savior and friend before waving a goodbye to the blue hedgehog and then took off where he hoped was back to their home world. As Sonic watched them leave, he felt even more content despite the few scares today. Despite all of the help from the aliens lending him their powers in certain areas, he found that since yesterday that even though he'd been emotionally wrecked, he had been comforted by his friends and going on this adventure was finally starting to get him back on track with himself.

It wasn't until he realized that through out this adventure he'd really been doing what he normally would and hasn't even seen it until now. The blue hedgehog was still willing to help others despite the risks and dangers, he still had fun while he was at it, he still bravely fought robots, he still helped out his friends who had been helping him, he had even rescued the Wisps and became friends with them.

"_Maybe it wasn't me losing my touch after all._" Sonic said to himself. "_Maybe it was because I was so scared and kept on blaming myself...even though Eggman's always been evil. I mean...it's not the first time he's caught me off-guard. He's just...getting better at it._"

That realization made him scared for a different reason. At the same time, though, the blue hedgehog knew that he can still take out giant robots.

"_Well then, guess this makes things a lot more challenging. But I'd better make sure I don't end up losing to him for real, or else my greatest nightmares will come true._" He decided, then smirked. "_All I gotta do is be myself and trust in my friends, and I'll get faster and stronger._"

"_That's the spirit, Sonic._"

"_Huh?_" Blinking at the familiar voice, the hallucination, Sonic glanced to his left and for a brief moment saw Chip right there beside him with a smile and a nod before the vision ended. While the blue hedgehog reached out for him, he sighed at the feeling of sadness before smiling while placing a hand to his chest.

"_Chip...even though you were never really with me on this adventure, you, Tails, Knuckles and Amy helped me realize that I can still do a lot of things. You guys supported me. Yacker and all of these aliens, too. I'll never forget the lessons I learned in the past nearly two days._" He whispered.

Nodding to himself with his determination and confidence renewed, becoming as strong as ever, Sonic smirked as he clutched his fist. "_I won't let you guys down! That Egghead is gonna be scrambled and his Amusement Park is gonna be closed before it even opens completely!_"

The blue hedgehog turned his attention to where he needed to go and immediately continued to reach the generator and preparing himself for the challenging but now even more exciting battle up ahead. It will be just as challenging as before, but with the Sea-Mask, he won't let any of his fears get in the way this time.

* * *

Short time later, Sonic had finally reached the generator which wasn't underwater, and thankfully the last stretch of it was on dry land, with his Sea-Mask now once again resting on his forehead. Lucky for him that even though he had been dripping wet from being underwater constantly, running so fast really dried him off like a treadmill hair-dryer.

As much as he had fun here in this world despite all the scares, making new friends in not just the aliens he saved, but also the giant Whale and the giant Octopus that were both friendly, he knew that he had to free it from Eggman's Amusement Park.

"Man, even though running and swimming past all those fish left me in a mood for sushi, I doubt Eggman had the decency to put a good sushi joint in this park." Sonic muttered to himself as he walked up to the generator.

As if on cue or hearing his thoughts, the blue hedgehog heard the intercom speak out and echo once more. "_**Remember, ladies and gentlemen, try the newest dining experience here at Eggman's Incredible Interstellar Amusement Park, The Bucket O' Sushi. Now with FISH!**_"

Sonic groaned as he facepalmed himself, unable to believe that for an evil scientist, the egg-shaped guy never even knew that Sushi always had fish in it. "Ugh, like I was sayin'. I can't believe he's that dumb to even get _that_ wrong until now."

'_Just hope no one get sick from it._' The blue hedgehog thought to himself, only to jump slightly when he heard the sirens go off somewhere. Glancing around while on high alert, he heard a loud rumble that shook the ground slightly and looked up to see...either it was a giant robotic fish or a huge submarine. Either way, it looked a bit like the ship back at Sweet Mountain, only without the unhealthy amounts of sugar.

"Another idea reused. Surprise, surprise." The teenager muttered sarcastically.

He then shrugged with a smug smile and called out to the giant killer robot, pretending to be a waiter. "Hey, did somebody here order a clobbering?"

The response he received was another pirate robot, this time dressed as an admiral and again resembled to Captain Jelly. This time this robot was known as Admiral Jelly who glared down at the blue hedgehog with an angry and insulted look.

"Aw, are ya' sure about that? It says somebody ordered an extra-large clobbering with everything!" Sonic taunted again, using an imaginary pen to write down an imaginary paper note, which annoyed the robot even further.

In fact, Admiral Jelly swung around it's sword and wanting nothing more than to tear the blue hedgehog into shreds.

He just smirked and prepared himself for battle while concluding. "Hmm, okay, tell ya what. I can't take this thing back, sooo...I'll give you an extra-large clobbering for nothing! Hope you're hungry!"

The Admiral-Robot retreated into the submarine and began to descend low into the water on the generator platform Sonic was on, to which the heroic hedgehog pulled down his Sea-Mask and activated it just in case. Good thing too because no sooner it was keeping him safe from drowning, he heard the siren go off again and to his shock the water levels began to rise quickly.

"...Every story has to have water against me, don't they?" The blue hedgehog groaned in dismay as he slumped while breaking the fourth wall once again, before crying out in alarm and no small amount of fear as the water rose up quickly to his chest and then flooded the entire area.

Keeping himself as much afloat as possible, and really glad for his best friend's invention, Sonic tried to hurry over to where the submarine went and found it sailing away. Narrowing his eyes with determination, he jumped and used the thankful platforms on the side he hadn't noticed to catch up to it as much as possible. However the submarine was quickly getting away which made him grit his teeth in annoyance. If only he could go faster underwater, or at least hitch a ride on something to help him get to it.

Then, as if his wish was granted, Sonic heard a familiar musical moan behind him as he hopped from platform to platform to try and catch up. Looking over his shoulder, his eyes widened as swimming up towards him was the same Whale he'd met earlier, one that he thought was going to eat him but instead had helped him in his time of need and if he were to guess, it saw his dilemma and decided to help again.

"_Well, look who it is!_" The blue hedgehog exclaimed with a smirk. "_Did you come here to help me take out that piece of scrap, big guy?_"

His new friend gave a nod and lowered itself to the level of the platform he was on. Getting the hint, the young hero nodded and said. "_Sweet! I could use a ride!_"

Sonic then jumped off the platform and onto the whale's head/back, before yelping as he held on while the gentle sea mammal then swum straight towards the submarine, much faster than he ran under water and catching up to his opponent quicker than he thought. Even though he was still terrified of being underwater, he couldn't help but think that this was way more fun than the installed rides in this world Eggman had put in.

'_This is the best time being underwater in my life! Awesome!_' He thought to himself as he and the whale caught up to the submarine on the right side. Knowing what to do and nodding to his friend who did it's best to smile at him with a look that looked rather like a sign of 'good luck', the blue hedgehog jumped off and floated down onto the deck, while the whale swum away towards whatever surface was left, probably to get some air before going back under.

Just as he did though, Admiral Jelly swung it's sword underwater and the next thing Sonic knew torpedoes were being fired straight towards him. Sweat-dropping nervously as he couldn't use his speed to dodge them easily in this situation, he tried his best to jump and hop out of the way even as they began to follow him. Needing to protect himself quickly, the blue hedgehog noticed several clear spheres and struggled to swim to them. He reached one just in time and winced as the torpedo hit it, shattering it into pieces.

"_Good thing there are some things to help out here._" Sonic remarked, before noticing a lever which was locked up inside a thick glass while attempting to locate his enemy. He couldn't find the latter, and his speed would not work underwater to crack it as he suddenly realized that this is very similar to his fight against Captain Jelly yesterday, he turned to the torpedoes again and then had another idea.

Running in a sluggish pace towards the lever, the blue hedgehog jumped and floated awkwardly before landing on top of the glass container before smirking at the torpedoes heading into his direction. Waiting for the right moment, he chuckled confidently before jumping off just in time as they hit the glass, smashing it into pieces. He used this chance to curl up and with much speed as he could muster while underwater, he hit the switch and as he predicted, the engines shut down and the submarine quickly began to sink. Just as Admiral Jelly emerged from it's cabin, the sub hit the ground so hard that it knocked both of them off.

"_Whoaaaaa!_" Sonic cried out as he was being flung before landing on the ground, not too hard but hard enough. Groaning as he sat up, he gasped as he saw that the over-sized robot recovered quicker than he did and charged with it's sword over it's head to slice him, and some of it's minions including some Jawz joining in the battle. Grunting, he narrowly managed to jump back to avoid Admiral Jelly's attack and flipped before kicking two robots a good hard kick.

He then used one of the defeated bots to lift himself up and karate-punched and kicked more as hard as he could before turning his attention to his main opponent. The blue hedgehog smirked waited until the larger robot spun and swung it's sword rapidly which he quickly jumped again and landed on it's head, punching and kicking it which caused some screws and bolts to scatter about in the water. The robot stumbled back and shook his head which became slightly loose before it growled angrily at him.

"_That was just one serving of the clobbering! You're about to have the rest!_" Sonic taunted as he landed back onto the ocean floor, only to groan in dismay when Admiral Jelly hopped back into it's submarine which then took off. "_Hey, I'm not done yet!_"

The blue hedgehog tried to catch up to it but was too low and the vessel was getting too high. As he growled in frustration while trying to come up with an idea on how to get back on board to finish the fight, he was greeted by the sound of the Whale once again and as Sonic glanced up to see his new friend descend, it made some kind of movements.

"_What's up?_" He asked, as it used it's head to gesture at the submarine and then blew an underwater sprout from it's blow hole which, while the blue hedgehog was aware that it wasn't meant to happen underwater, at least not in Mobius as Whales needed air, he suddenly realized what it was trying to saw and instantly felt nervous despite it having helped him twice.

Sonic pointed at himself while asking, shakily. "_Y-You wanna sprout me out through your blowhole to the submarine by s-swallowing me?_"

The Whale nodded and despite that his heart was feeling strangely calm and somehow reassuring him that he wasn't going to be digested, the blue hedgehog didn't know if whether this was a good idea or not, but after quickly seeing the robot getting away too quickly underwater, swallowed the large lump that formed in his throat while the large sea animal opened it's mouth wide and began sucking in water and by instance, him even as he struggled to stand his ground.

"_I hope I don't regret this._" Sonic whispered to himself, squeezing his eyes eyes and then allowed himself to be lifted and sucked in right back into the mouth, this time full of water as he screamed which was cut off from the outside world when the giant Whale slammed it shut and then swallowed both the blue hedgehog and the water easily. It then quickly began swimming towards the submarine as fast as it could.

Sonic in the meantime continued to scream as he was swallowed whole, being sucked down the fleshy pink and red walls of the throat and down towards the stomach, his heart hammering in his chest and his own stomach dropping. He had no idea where the tunnel of the blowhole was, and could only hope that he was heading towards that and not having been tricked to only end up being trapped inside the whale for the rest of his life.

'_Stay calm, stay calm, stay calm! He's helping! He's not gonna digest me! I'll be through the blowhole soon!...Right!?_' The blue hedgehog frantically thought himself to calm down as he was sliding and being sucked through, getting dangerously closer to the entrance of the stomach, and becoming more and more panicked.

Fortunately, just as he was about to enter his supposed prison as Sonic thought for a split second that he was tricked, suddenly he felt himself being shot upward to another hole above him and safely away from the entrance of the stomach. The Whale sprouted water while creating bubbles through it's blowhole, and the blue hedgehog was then shot out like a jet, free from the giant sea-mammal and floating in the water.

"_Whoa!_" He cried out, and as he realized that was released, he also found that they were a bit ahead of the submarine and was descending down towards the deck, much to his surprise.

The blue hedgehog glanced at the Whale who nodded at him and he sighed in relief while relaxing, waving at it with a smile as he knew that it really did want to help him. "_Thanks, pal!_"

Sonic once again landed on the deck and this time while Admiral Jelly, shocked to see him still alive as it saw what happened and had thought that the blue hedgehog was fish food, he was ready for whatever attack the underwater robot would fire at him, which was once again the torpedoes. Just as he was about to come up with the same stragety, he noticed another sphere with a trapped yellow alien inside which he hadn't noticed before and then knew what to do.

"_Hang on, little guy!_" He cried out, leading one of the torpedoes towards it before leaping out of the way as it smashed through the glass, inadvertently freeing the Wisp who swum towards the blue hedgehog as he nodded. "_Don't worry, it'll be okay. But I'm gonna need your help, if that's alright with you._"

The yellow Wisp, seeing how he lead the torpedo to set it free, nodded and followed him towards the lever. It was about to enter his body when he shook his head and instead the blue hedgehog jumped on top of the glass and waited. It then got the idea as he gave it a thumbs up and a wink before they looked to see the missiles getting closer and closer towards them. Then at his signal, Sonic and the alien moved out of the way just in time as it hit the glass before he gave the lever another hard kick.

This caused the submarine to lose it's power once more, and this time Sonic jumped off just as it began to sink as he didn't want another hard landing or being caught off-guard, but the robot he was fighting against jumped after him and just as he sensed it, the blue hedgehog was hit on the back which sent him forward as he cried out. He hit the ground hard and hissed in pain while pushing himself up. Sensing moment, he looked over his shoulder to see Admiral Jelly about to thrust it's sword at him and he glared at it before forcing himself to jump out of the way, narrowly avoiding the sharp weapon.

Thankfully the yellow Wisp quickly floated beside him and Sonic shared a glance with it with a nod. It then turned into pure energy and absorbed itself into his body just as his opponent and the remaining robotic crew were charging again. He smirked.

"_DRILL!_" He shouted.

Once again turning into drill, Sonic sped through the water and took out the smaller robots including the Jawz while Admiral Jelly tried hitting him with it's sword only to be spun around and around until it couldn't see where he was going, becoming dizzy in the process which allowed the Mobian hedgehog to thrust himself right into it's chest, knocking it backwards where it lost it's grip on the sword and parts of it's arms and chest came off, pieces of metal floating all over the place.

As he returned to normal and the alien emerged from him, the blue hedgehog noticed the sword and then had an idea, especially since the robot was pretty close. Smirking, he grabbed hold of the over-sized weapon and while he wasn't one to use weapons, he jumped as high as the water could allow him just as the robot was beginning to malfunction and when it saw what he was about to do, it flinched as though it was very afraid.

"_Here's the main course, Admiral; Extra-Large Clobbering with a jaw-dropping on top!_" Sonic declared as he swung the heavy weapon as hard as he could with a battle-cry, thrusting it right onto the head of the robot so hard that it was almost split in half, and then kicked it's face as a finishing move. It was sent backwards before hitting the ground once more, this time exploding into pieces of metal as bubbles sprouted everywhere.

The blue hedgehog chuckled as he floated gently onto the ground, tossing the now useless sword away, adding to the defeated robot. "_And a mouth-kicking for dessert._"

While the Wisp had no idea what he was going on about, he floated around him with a happy expression which he noticed and laughed before the two shared a high-five before they heard the Whale's musical moan, causing both Sonic and his newest ally to glance up and saw the enormous sea creature descend towards them. The Whale landed onto the ground next to the duo who yelped in fright and jumped back to avoid in getting crushed accidentally, before sighing in relief as it then gave Sonic a grateful smile, before motioning the blue hedgehog towards it's tail which flipped up and down slightly.

At first confused, he then realized what it meant and smiled. "_I get it. You wanna give me a ride back to the generator._"

The whale nodded happily, and Sonic laughed in relief and excitement. So after he thanked the yellow Wisp before the two shared a goodbye as it departed back to Planet Wisp to it's freedom and home, the blue hedgehog then attempted to race over to the Whale's tail, and awkwardly made his way onto it's back and the top of it's head. Once he was there, he yelped while holding on as his new friend then swum back towards where he came from, carrying him along the way.

"_YEAH! If only I had this mask more often before, I woulda enjoyed this like I am now!_" Sonic cheered happily, and while he was still wiry and scared of being underwater and being unable to swim, especially drowning, right now he was having the best underwater time of his life. The Whale gave another musical sound and the two shared smiles.

"_Hey, thanks for helping me out. I'm sorry that I was really scared of you before._" The blue hedgehog said to the Whale, patting the top of it's head. "_To tell the truth, when you came up with the idea on how to get me back onto that submarine, I really half-thought you ate me when I was getting close to your stomach. It...was so scary, that I panicked._"

Somehow understanding what he was saying, the Whale gave another moan of music that seemed to be reassuring which made Sonic smile as it warmed his heart.

"_But you know, I'm really glad that we got to be friends. I've never been friends with anybody underwater before. This is a way past cool new experience for me, and I kinda like it._" He continued, sweat-dropping sheepishly as he added. "_Especially since me and water had never been friends when I can't swim or float._"

His new friend snickered and gave him a comforting smile that put Sonic at ease.

Still, as he thought about this adventure in this world, he couldn't help but realize that he still had hallucinations of both Chip and the Werehog, the latter having, in a weird sense, gobbled him whole before he was released, and then Chip cheered him on for what he said.

'_Maybe...I just had to face my fears like I did before my last adventure._' Sonic thought to himself. Though even though he realized he was starting to finally fully recover thanks to his friends, he still had one last challenge other than saving the next and final world and find Yacker's mom, not to mention most likely face Eggman in the near future.

The blue hedgehog had to have the strength and courage to forgive himself.

* * *

It wasn't long before Sonic was back at the generator as the water receded back to normal levels as it was being drained through the sink holes, and when the Whale resurfaced to the platform's level, he hopped off and landed neatly on the floor just in time to see the generator shut off, effectively freeing the Water World from Eggman's Amusement Park.

Deactivating the Sea-Mask before pushing it up to his forehead, the blue hedgehog glanced up at the Whale who, raising slightly to meet him at eye level to which one eye was half his size, or maybe the same size as him, smiled at him and he returned it.

"Thank you, buddy. I'll never forget you." Sonic told it, and when the Whale beamed at him with a water sprout that sent up a jet of water from it's blowhole, he gave it a thumbs up and a wink.

The Whale then gave a final musical moan before sinking back into the water to return to outside of the glass giant tube and the blue hedgehog waved it a goodbye with a content smile, happy to have accomplished this task and was now one step closer in once again saving Mobius. This time saving the Universe itself.

"There you are, Sonic!"

Hearing his little brother's voice from his left, Sonic turned to see Tails running up towards him as the eight year old fox added with a beaming smile. "Great job!"

Sonic smirked at his best friend, full of confidence, almost as though his last adventure two months ago never happened. "You know me, I aim to please."

"Well, I'm totally pleased!" Tails said happily, before groaning as he then frowned and placed a hand to his stomach. "...And a little nauseous. I grabbed a bite at The Bucket O' Sushi."

That made Sonic frown slightly. "What's the verdict?"

A moment of silence.

"...His cruelty knows no bounds." The young kit moaned, covering his mouth with both hands as he tried to resist the urge to throw up, his face turning a slight shade of green.

"Was the Sushi poisoned?" Sonic asked, concerned as he approached his best friend, carefully placed a hand onto the younger Mobian's back.

"Worse. Inept Cook." Tails replied, shuddering at the thought as he remembered Bokkun's version of making sushi, which was the worst thing he'd ever experienced.

"Well, I could've warn you that since Eggman just realized Sushi has fish in it." The blue hedgehog stated with a sympathetic smile.

That made the two-tailed fox groan again. "No wonder mine didn't have any. I thought it was either him doing it on purpose or Bokkun had no idea and made several wild guesses."

"Say what!?" Sonic softly exclaimed in shock and no small amount of fear. "Bokkun is the Bucket O' Sushi chief!?"

Tails nodded. "Like a said; inept cook. He had put crab legs, a burger beef, a two day old fried chicken, an apple of all things, and a small tentacle in each sushi he made, which none were supposed to be in."

That made the teenage hedgehog pale at the thought and description of his friend's story, suddenly feeling slightly nauseous himself and he hasn't even had any.

"That just put me off the mood for sushi for a while." Sonic shuddered with as sweatdrop, before carefully leading his slightly sick friend back to where they came from. "C'mon, let's get ya' something to ease off the stomach-ache and then head over to the next world."

"Thanks, Sonic." The young fox sighed, allowing his friend to lead him away.

* * *

Meanwhile, Yacker was leading more of his friends back to Planet Wisp and saw the latest Drill Wisp join in on the reunion and returning home. He was just about to go off and find Sonic and Tails or perhaps wait at either his home or back at Tropical Resort when he heard a familiar but not welcoming voice. Turning around, the little curled-headed Wisp flinched in fright before quickly hiding behind a building when he saw Bokkun walk by, and was soon joined by Orbot and Cubot from a twice as ugly vessel that resembled to a giant Eggman head with jet engines.

"Ah, there you are, Bokkun. How...was the dining experience?" Orbot greeted the smallest robot.

"It's harder than it looks, but I did put in some interesting flavors." Bokkun replied, both disappointed and proud with himself. He then cackled evilly. "Best part is, while it probably isn't a good thing to make unhealthy food, I actually got to make Sonic's two-tailed friend sick for a while."

"Awk! He has a two-tailed friend? How can anybody have two tails?" Cubot asked, this time speaking in a parrot's voice which made Orbot and Bokkun groan in annoyance and dismay.

"I don't know! And why are you speaking like a parrot?" The small purple/black robot exclaimed.

"I'm still having trouble fixing his voice chip." Orbot answered before the cube-shaped robot could speak.

Cubot glanced at him, pointing out. "But I thought the boss liked my new voice. Awk!"

That made Bokkun give the newest lacky a deadpanned look. "Not when you sound more stupid."

"Awk! Hey! Awk, awk!" The yellow robot complained while squawking even more, which made his two companions shake their heads in exasperation.

"I can only hope that Decoe and Becoe are not having much trouble at the basement with the Mother Alien." The orb-shaped robot facepalmed himself, and Bokkun nodded in agreement.

"Yeah, and to think that she's hidden underneath Tropical Resort where the cannon is. Good thing Dr. Eggman had hidden it so that no one would see through the elevator." The smaller robot added.

From his hiding place while trying not to be seen or heard, Yacker perked up in shock as he listened in to the conversation. When he heard the word 'Mother Alien' and where she was located, he was utterly and beyond shocked. His Mama is underneath the place where he first met Sonic and Tails, and no one except 'Baldy Nosehair' and his robots knew about it?

At first he thought about quickly going off to find this two Mobian friends and inform them, but stopped himself as he had second thoughts. Sonic has done so much and despite his promise to find his mother, the little cute Wisp didn't want to put him into anymore danger than he was already facing, and what if he couldn't find her on time?

No. This time Yacker was going to do what the blue hedgehog would do; go off and find out himself and then make a decision. So, waiting for the robots to finish their conversation, like still trying to fix Cubot's voice chip, before they took their leave as Bokkun decided to close the Bucket O' Sushi for the time being, the little Wisp then made sure they wouldn't spot him before flying off back to Tropical Resort and hoped to find a way to find his mother.

Hoping that it wasn't too late to save her as well as avoid in getting caught.

* * *

On their way back to the Egg Shuttle, on a path that Tails lead Sonic to which the blue hedgehog chastised himself for not noticing earlier as it would've made his job more easier in locating the generator, before realizing that it would've made beating Admiral Jelly a lot harder if he hadn't met the giant Whale, the first thing he did was try and help his best friend/little brother to make the stomach-ache stop.

After that, the duo shared their stories of what they experience after the two-tailed fox explained to him on where Yacker went for the time being on their way to the Shuttle where it would take them to the next and last world where Sonic would be able to shut down the final generator.

"You mean the Whale swallowed you twice to help you!?" Tails exclaimed softly in shock and disbelief when he heard this part.

"Yep, and in both cases I thought the big guy was gonna eat me." Sonic replied with a shrug, and a bit of a scared smile, which faded into a warm one. "But he's a tough guy and a big o'l softy. More ways than one."

He then scratched the side of his face, adding. "Gotta admit, it was scary. I'm just lucky to never having to gone through that with the giant Werehog even though I came close, especially before it became it's own being and Sun...well, you get the idea."

The eight year old fox shuddered, "I'm just glad that neither one really did eat you. Even worse, I'm not sure why Eggman built that factory unless Amy is right."

"Either that, or Egghead has really finally lost it." The fifteen year old hedgehog shrugged, resisting the urge to shudder himself. "Hope it's the former."

"...Would he really use a shrinking machine to shrink those pies with people in them and then...eat them?" Tails asked, nervously.

A long tensed and uncomfortable moment of silence.

"UGH!/EW!" Sonic and Tails exclaimed simultaneously in disgust at the horrible thought.

"That's it! I'm _never_ eating anything from any restaurant that is owned by Eggman ever again, even if the chili dogs back at Tropical Resort and dumplings didn't make me sick, or even Amy or Cream and Cheese sick!" Sonic declared, waving his arms in a 'no-way' motion while shaking his head.

"I'm never eating _anything_ from places owned by Eggman ever again either!" Tails responded in agreement.

The older Mobian nodded, "When we get home to Mobius, we're having chili dogs and pizza for lunch and dinner like we planned on yesterday, not owned by that insane guy."

"I agree. Though I can't help but notice that you just added pizza on that list." His best friend nodded, and then giggled.

"Yeah, well, I'm trying to keep our minds off of the you-know-what and pizza is the perfect excuse." Sonic smirked, folding his arms.

Tails laughed, "Well, maybe we should think about Chili Dogs and Pizza after the last generator is turned off."

The blue hedgehog laughed, and playfully ruffled the young kit's head which made the latter giggle even more. "Couldn't have said it better myself, li'l bro. Let's go."

His friend nodded. But just as they just reached the station and about to board the Egg Shuttle, a familiar and apparently very peeved voice made them freeze in their tracks, especially Sonic who froze in mid-step.

"Aha! Sonic! There you are!" A familiar female voice declared.

'_Uh-oh...!_' The blue hedgehog thought worriedly as he and Tails both slowly looked over their shoulders, to see an angry Amy Rose along with both Cream and Cheese who, unlike the pink hedgehog, waved with smiles on their faces, before looking concerned over the worried and in Sonic's case, terrified, expressions on their faces.

"I've been waiting for hours for you to show up and looking for you!" Amy exclaimed, her jade-green eyes flaring up which made Sonic sweat in fear as he and a very afraid Tails turned fully around to face the girls and the little Chao. "You have some explaining to do about what you said earlier, mister!"

"Uh, uh, uh...I-I-I...Amy, I do wanna see you, and I'm always happy to see you. It's just..." Sonic tried to explain as he held his hands up in surrender, backing away slowly with a sweatdrop.

"Mmm-hmm?" The pink hedgehog questioned suspiciously, folding her arms as she waited impatiently, tapping her foot on the floor.

"W-well, it's just...you tend to go crazy over me when I'm around. Like, overly-crazy." The blue hedgehog tried to explain carefully, quickly adding as he waved his hands. "L-look, I really do care about you, honest! And I know how much you love me, b-but maybe you could, um, like not go all fan-girl on me?"

"Like how all fan-girl?" Amy pouted, though her anger is softening a little, and the way how Sonic told her that he really cared about her and acknowledged that she loved him made her heart leap.

Sonic grinned sheepishly, "Well, how 'bout not chase after me or scream out my name for starters? Or even try and pounce on me? No offense, but it's like you have super strength or something."

Rather than being offended, the twelve year old hedgehog smiled, and while she was a bit annoyed by how he was describing how she reacted to him, she said happily. "I can't help it that you're the coolest dude in Mobius, Sonic!"

She then sighed happily, once again her eyes all sparkling and love hearts and stars float all around her in the background. "You're so fast like a whirlwind sweeping through town to carry off my heart, your moves, your motivation, your kind and caring side, even your fun personality, and your handsome looks are hard not to love."

Even though Sonic was flattered by everything Amy said, he facepalmed himself with a groan of dismay and exasperation. Tails patted him on the shoulder with sympathy and Cream and Cheese both shook their heads with giggles over their pink hedgehog friend's over-bearing love for the blue hedgehog.

"Thanks. Look, I hate to run off, but me and Tails still got one more generator to shut off." Sonic finally said after a moment, scratching the back of his head. "Not to mention beating Eggman."

He then grinned, adding. "And give him all that clobbering."

"That's my Sonic! I'm really glad you're feeling better now." Amy squealed.

"Thanks to you guys." Sonic shrugged, gazing not just at Amy, but also Tails and even Cream, and Cheese. "Even Knuckles and Yacker helped make me feel better. To tell the truth, I was feeling really down a lot lately, I guess I tried to hide it for so long and not think about what happened before. Maybe I had it all wrong and just needed to let it out of my chest."

The blue hedgehog then looked embarrassed while admitting, "And...like I said to Knuckles, there are times that even I need comfort from someone, and reassurance. It's...really comforting. I totally understand how you all feel when I try and cheer you guys up."

"Why didn't you feel that way before?" Tails asked, curiously.

"I'm not used to feeling so down, and I hate letting everybody down if I screw something up or fail. Makes me feel terrible and you know I don't like seeing anyone sad and have tears." Sonic explained.

"Oh, Sonic. You're so silly." Amy giggled with a warm smile, after calming down as she and the other smiles with how he was opening up more. "What makes you think we wouldn't want to do the same thing you've always done for us?"

"We wanna be there for you and cheer you up too, Mr. Sonic. We're your friends." Cream added kindly and sweetly.

"Chao, Chao, Chao!" Cheese added with a nod.

"Yeah. I told you before, big bro. You should let us comfort you once and while." Tails added, rephrasing what he said before Sonic ventured off into Starlight Carnival.

Hearing this and remembering what Knuckles also told him yesterday brought the blue hedgehog to tears that he tried to hide, though they were visible which his friends noticed and quickly grew worried. He quickly wiped them away with an emotional smile.

"Aw, guys. C'mere, gimme a hug." Sonic croaked, and seeing that he was crying in happiness and feeling emotional that was rare but it touched their hearts, Tails, Amy, Cream and Cheese all joined up and the five of them formed into a group hug, all of them silently shedding tears with smiles. "You're the best."

They stayed this way for a while before finally letting go with beaming smiles, even though Sonic then requested sheepishly. "Um, but can we keep this between us? Being emotional like this would kinda ruin my reputation as the hero of Mobius."

"Our lips are sealed." Tails promised, happy that his big brother was finally recovering almost completely. Some wounds were still a long way to go from healing, but the blue hedgehog was finally accepting that he wasn't alone and everyone including the two-tailed fox himself were there for him just as much as he was there for them.

"That's a promise." Amy added.

"We won't say anything, Mr. Sonic." Cream added, and her pet Chao squealed in agreement.

"Thanks. Sorry for losing it there." The blue hedgehog sighed.

"Oh, come on, Sonic. Even heroes have their tough times." The pink hedgehog pointed out.

"Good point." He laughed, before saying as his determination and cocky self came back with full force. "Now, time for me and Tails to finish what we started. Right, buddy?"

"You bet!" The two-tailed fox nodded with equal determination.

Hearing the cheers from Amy, Cream and Cheese, Sonic smirked as he gave them a two-finger salute before he and Tails marched into the Egg Shuttle that would take them to their final destination, while the trio left behind would take another one that would take them back to Tropical Paradise, and as they promised their hero, take the elevator back to Mobius.

Sonic and Tails were now one step closer in completing their goal.

* * *

**A/N: The last world of this story is about to begin in the next chapter! Hope I did okay with this one and I'm sorry that it seemed rather rushed. To be honest, I kinda think Sonic and Amy make a cute couple and not because they're both hedgehogs.**

**See you later!**


	14. Chapter 14: Two types of a Rollercoaster

**Author's Note: We have arrived at the final world of this story; Asteroid Coaster! But it's not yet over for our heroes. Once again, thank you all for liking this story so far.**

**To guest: I will get back to "Sonic and the Werehog" as soon as possible, so please be patient and don't worry. Speaking of which, this chapter will reveal spoilers from the said story, so fair warning.**

**Now, it's onward!**

**I do not own Sonic The Hedgehog. All rights belong to Sega.**

* * *

_Chapter 14: Two types of a Roller-coaster._

"_**Next stop: The Asteroid Coaster! Zoom along through, and sometimes INTO space debris! Then lose your lunch in Zero G!**_" Eggman's intercom spoke once more as Sonic(who had decided to place his Sea-Mask in his quills for safe keeping now that the underwater adventure was over for the time being) and Tails were waiting in their seats to reach the aforementioned world, though when they heard their enemy's voice recording say this, they held different reactions that didn't put them into a good mood.

"He really has a thing to make people's lives miserable, doesn't he?" The blue hedgehog remarked in exasperation, his hands behind his head and one leg over the over once more. Despite that the Asteroid Coaster sounded like heaps of fun, there was a dreaded feeling within him that told him that this world will be the darkest he ever ventured into.

Not including the Black Comet filled with evil aliens like Black Doom and the Black Arms, which Shadow thankfully destroyed with the ARK's cannon.

"Or just end their lives in general." The two-tailed fox added, shuddering once again.

"Sadly, he's always cared about himself and nobody else." Sonic sighed, gazing his sights out of the window. "I've known that ever since I first met the guy. Eggman just won't give up his dream in taking over Mobius, and now it's gone up to the highest level; taking over the entire universe."

"I don't think it'll happen, 'cause there are other evil beings out there too that can over-take him. Like how Black Doom tried to take over our world." Tails pointed out.

The blue hedgehog nodded in agreement, "That's one of the things I'm concerned about. It's already bad enough that I have nightmares of Baldy McNosehair beating me and taking over the world..."

Pausing, he ran a hand through his quills as bad memories of what happened yesterday was still fresh on his mind. "Yesterday was too close for comfort, and it also gave me bad memories before I met you."

"...Like what?" His best friend asked, hesitantly.

"...Like the time when he offered me to join him to take over the world before I defeated him." Sonic admitted, squeezing his eyes shut. "I've never felt so horrified in my life, when he wanted to use me and my speed for dominion. Come to think of it, he did use me two months ago...and other than trying to get rid of me, he thought it was easier to take over my mind and body...like how he did to you before the energy ran out."

The teenage hedgehog tried to inhale and exhale to calm down, to remind himself of what his friends had told him, and the lessons he learned. In the end he covered his face with his hands as the anxiety of the situation was slowly consuming him.

"Tails, what'm I gonna do?" He asked in distress. "If I do end up losing to him...Oh, Chaos...it's all over...!"

"Sonic, don't think like that!" The eight year old fox exclaimed, hurrying over to his distraughted adoptive big brother who by then was struggling to calm down, and hugged the hedgehog. "I believe in you, even if I'd be very worried."

Sighing shakily, Sonic forced himself to calm down while frustratingly wiped away tears that developed. "Sorry. I try not to let that get to me, but sometimes..."

"I know. We all know what will happen if it does go wrong." Tails gently interrupted, knowing what his best friend was going to say. "But if does, we'll be there to help as best as we can. It'll take more than Eggman to get rid of all of us."

"Yeah." The teenage Mobian nodded, smiling a little and hugged his best friend/little brother once more. "I'm really sorry, buddy. I just don't want that nightmare or Egghead's dream come true."

"Besides him, who does?" The young kit asked, before shrugging sheepishly. "Well, maybe Decoe, Becoe, Bokkun and Orbot. But they're all robots with personalities."

Sonic chuckled softly, "True. Other than Shadow, I'm the only one who can be fast enough to stop him. I mean, sure you stopped a missile from detonating in Station Square, and Knuckles used the Chaos Emeralds to stop Eggman not long after I did for the third time. I don't want to lose you guys, and G.U.N can't handle Eggman's robots like we can."

Tails only hugged him tighter, almost whispering. "I don't want to lose you either, big bro. You're my whole family, my entire world. That's why I didn't hesitate to push you out of the way. It'd be a lot worse for me to see you under Eggman's control even if it was horrible being under it."

"Well, next time it's my turn to keep you safe. I don't care what happens to me as long as I can beat that loser. Knowing that you're safe, and the world is free and safe from anyone with evil purposes, that's more than enough and I can be in peace." Sonic said, nuzzling his face on top of his little brother's head and relaxed when Tails nuzzled into his chest.

The two stayed like this for a few more moments.

"When we get home, you and I are definitely going on another adventure together; Eggman-Free. 'Kay?" He whispered.

"This adventure not enough for both of us?" The younger Mobian teased.

"You know me. I don't hold still for too long, and this adventure, fun as it is, wasn't what I had in mind." Sonic teased back with a wink.

"Sonic, none of our adventures are what you have a mind. Something unexpected always happens." Tails pointed out in a fake deadpan.

That made the teenager laugh. "That's true, and I'm all for the unexpected. It makes things more exciting in most cases."

The two best friends/adoptive brothers shared a laugh as the blue hedgehog felt instantly better, before hearing the announcement that they were nearing their destination. Sharing a glance, the duo looked out of the window to see the outside of Asteroid Coaster...only to sweat-drop and recoil back at the sight. From the distance, they could make out that the world itself didn't look like one at all. It resembled to a giant rock caterpillar or something close along the lines.

They could see green liquid that looked pretty toxic-worse than the purple liquid in the construction site at Planet Wisp, lots of asteriods with said green goo that exploded like volcanoes, rails and roller-coasters made out of bones and spikes which ended in such deadly places like pits that lead to dead ends and such. The two friends gulped nervously.

"What I said about being all for the unexpected in most cases?" Sonic began as he and Tails shared a scared glance. "This might be one of those few times that I'm not excited about."

"Is it just me, or do those bones look giant?" Tails shivered, his voice quivering slightly.

"Might be from the dinosaurs or giant ancient aliens none of us heard of before, and I don't think I wanna know." The blue hedgehog shrugged with a nervous grin. He then shook his head to return to his senses and put on a brave face with determination, "But that won't stop me from freeing this world and saving the aliens from Egghead's Amusement Park! I'm going!"

"Good luck, and be careful." The two-tailed fox tried to encourage, but his voice was chirped in a high-pitched nervousness and worry.

Despite the dreaded feeling about this place and what he's about to find other than the rides to the underworld, Sonic attempted to joke to lighten the mood. "Me, careful? We're like oil and water. I'll be fine."

He made it this far, and he wasn't about give up now, or ever.

* * *

Not long after they disembarked and Tails decided to investigate in a hopefully more safer part of this world, Sonic was left on his own to find the generator and shutting it down while saving the remaining aliens no doubt that were possibly the last ones to rescue.

'_Maybe I'll find Yacker's mom here. I still have no idea what she looks like; maybe a pink or a rainbow girl version of him? Or looking a bit more different?_' The blue hedgehog thought to himself as he began racing down the rocky path to find a way around this place.

As he looked around, Sonic grimaced as the sky was pitch black, smaller asteriods floating about above, several places of green deadly-looking goo with bones and, Eggman-edition, the roller-coasters. He approached the first one in line and, considering that the Park itself was still in it's early stages and, realizing that he hasn't seen anyone else around apart from Knuckles, Rouge, Amy, Cream and Cheese, no one else has come here yet.

"Figures. He wants to invite everyone after he brain-washes them." Sonic groaned, placing a hand onto his forehead and shook his head, before smirking as he declared to himself. "Heh. Boy is Ro-butt-nik in for a disappointment."

"_**Welcome to the Asteroid Coaster, now with 32% more asteriods.**_" The intercom echoed through out the area, as though reading the blue hedgehog's mind, making him lose his smirk and become angry almost instantly.

"If this place turns into an Asteroid that destroys Mobius and other worlds, it's really your fault, you stupid clown." The young hero grunted as he glared up at the sky.

No soon he said that, Sonic looked around the area, and while he realized that the only way to keep going forward was to ride on the roller-coaster, he began feeling a sense of deja vu. While it wasn't his place at the time, it was still fresh in his memories as well.

"Hmm, come to think of it, this place kinda reminds of the black comet. In a different creepy sort of way." He thought to himself, folding his arms.

Shaking his head to focus, the blue hedgehog looked around again and even though he really wanted to find the generator, he had a feeling that the roller-coaster was the only way to the other side to...wherever it lead and hopefully not to a dead end. Nodding to himself, Sonic approached the attraction and being the dare devil that he was, leaped in the front seat and held onto the cart for fear life, realizing too late that there were no seat belts or safety bars or anything to protect him.

"_**These coasters are not for small children...or big babies.**_" Eggman's intercom spoke once more as the roller-coaster then quickly took off, causing Sonic to yelp while hanging on for dear life.

"Who're you callin' babies?" The blue hedgehog shouted, before screaming loudly as the cart, not as fast as he was, was beyond dangerous even his standards. He ducked when the roller-coaster passed through small asteroids almost repeatedly and then gasped in horror as he saw other carts plunging into nothing ahead of him. "Okaaaaay...This is gonna be _really bad!_"

Just when he thought he was about to be doomed to drift into space for the rest of his life, his saving grace was a platform close back that was nearing. Quickly standing up, Sonic jumped out of the cart without second thoughts and just as he touched down on the edge while the cart behind him plunged, he immediately ran to a more safer part until he came across another capsule with three more trapped white aliens. He wasted no time in smashing it and freeing them.

The trio of Wisps looked relatively relieved and gazed at the blue hedgehog who gave them a reassuring smile.

"It's okay. Don't you worry, little guys. I'm here to help." Sonic told them, only for the aliens to shake their heads and pointed at behind them with clearly frightened and upset expressions. While his heart ached at how scared they were, when he looked at where they were pointing, he gasped in horror, anger and devastation.

Along the walls in the area they were in, Sonic had found himself part of what he realized was another factory; a factory that was collecting Wisps in containers on conveyor belts that were lined up, and while some had aliens in them, others had the glowing rainbow energy, some belts moving along like snakes on walls out of nightmares, others on wheels and he knew that it was all to drain all of the Hyper-Go-Ons from these poor Wisps and give them to Eggman for his mind-controlling machine.

Rage, guilt and sorrow filled the blue hedgehog's senses and gripped his heart which hurt even more, tears of frustration stung his eyes. He fell onto his knees as he saw just how many aliens were forced to be like this. He thought that it was horrible enough back on Planet Wisp, but this was far beyond worse. He wished that he'd known sooner and while the comfort from his friends that it wasn't his fault still lingered, the agonizing ache was almost too much to bear.

"Eggman...How could you...!? HOW COULD YOU!?" Sonic screamed at the sky, his voice echoing through out the area, unknowingly startling the aliens who flinched by his outburst. He didn't notice, and instead lowered his head with his eyes shut tightly with his tears falling freely and he began pounding the hard, rock ground with his left fist several times.

Eventually he stopped punching the ground and just sobbed. The distraught teenager really wanted to believe that it wasn't his fault, he wanted to fix this mess.

"...This is all my fault...!" Sonic croaked, crying uncontrollably once more. "I really should've...I really should've known!"

"_Sonic. Don't take the blame that belongs to Eggman. You didn't know, and you can't place any of this onto your shoulders. You can still fix this; believe in yourself._" The voice of Chip which the blue hedgehog, upon hearing his voice, realized that he was hallucinating again.

'_C-Chip?_' He thought to himself, only for it to end quickly. Even though he was still devastated over this, his mind and heart somehow quickly whirled back to what his friends were telling him all along. Not to mention what he thought to himself before entering the Aquarium Park, and what Amy had said.

_"Just because you didn't know what was going to happen doesn't mean it really was your fault. You're not a psychic, and everyone makes mistakes. So, no more what if's or self-blames for something that you didn't do on purpose or even know of, okay?"_

'_She's right. Everybody's right. I'm angry because all of these aliens are suffering, and while I wish I could've prevented this, wishing to change the past isn't going to fix this mess. The only way to do so is to...is to keep going._' Sonic thought to himself, focusing really hard on the comforting words his friends had given him, the support he received from them, the knowledge that they loved him and cheered him on.

Plus, crying over this wasn't going to solve anything. Being angry, no matter how much he felt it and the utter hate he felt against Eggman, wouldn't solve anything either even if he wanted to smash something to cool off. Forcing himself to calm down and inhale and exhale a few times, Sonic pushed himself up and wiped away his tears just as the white aliens hovered over, looking concerned as he finally noticed. Realizing that he'd broken down in anger, guilt and sorrow, he felt embarrassed and held a twinge of a different kind of guilt.

"Sorry. I'm just upset about this whole thing as you guys are." He apologized, sheepish at first before renewing his determination and declared. "But I promise, I will free the rest of your kind, and I WILL turn your friends who had their powers drained back to normal. One way or another."

Relieved and surprised by his change of expression and emotions, the Wisps beamed before hugging the blue hedgehog who laughed at the ticklish sensation, before he came to another realization.

"Guess my feelings have been like a crazy roller-coaster like the one back there, I have no idea how to make it stop. But it's going to be okay." Sonic admitted as he hugged them back to give them as much comfort as possible. They stayed like this for a bit before letting go and the blue hedgehog stood up, and while he still felt the three feelings within himself, he wanted to not let it get to him.

As though sensing his feelings from his heart, his newly made friends dissolved into energy and despite Sonic being increasingly worried about what would happen to them, he was prepared to feel their power of boost and once they were flowing into his body, he dashed faster than usual and used this increased speed to spin dash into the glowing containers of the Hyper-Go-On energy which flowed around freely. While he had no idea if it was a good thing to release them like this or not, but he wasn't about to let Eggman have it.

The sake of both the Wisps and all of the Universe depended on him, and Sonic was going to make sure he foiled this cruel, evil plot once and for all. Coming across another Egg Pawn robot or two, the blue hedgehog quickly smashed them into pieces which, in a sense, made him feel less frustrated and more relaxed. Taking out anything that Eggman created was really a stress relief.

* * *

In another part of the park somewhere along where Sonic was, was a black hedgehog that looked identical to him in the face. His quills were black with red tips on the edge, his chest fur and wrists were fluffy white, and his shoes were jet-stakes, his eyes all crimson with a serious expression he always had.

Shadow the Hedgehog, once Sonic's enemy in their early meeting, now his rival and one of his closest allies even though the ultimate lifeform didn't get on so much with the blue hedgehog. He stood over a smashed robot he'd just destroyed with his arms crossed and a usual frown on his face.

"This is the best the doctor can do? Pathetic." The black hedgehog scoffed, not fazed when he heard lasers fired and metal being smashed nearby. He closed his eyes to think as he muttered to himself. "Still...capturing small aliens that look more frightened than a threat...Guess there are ones that are not like Black Doom."

He heard metal approach him, but Shadow wasn't fazed. In fact, he was fully relaxed because he hadn't come here to this place alone.

"**Is something on your mind, comrade Shadow?**" The robot that approached him asked. This robot, once belonging to Eggman, was one of the robots that rebelled against him and had sided with Sonic and his friends; Omega, one of the largest robots but having gained a conscience of his own.

"Not really." Shadow admitted. "There must be something more to this. If the analysis is right, the best thing to do is release these aliens by locating Dr. Eggman's base."

"**I have detected a possible entrance to the factory containing and transforming these alien species. A transformation that contains negative energy, uncontrollable.**" Omega responded.

"Hmm...sounds like a negative impact of someone's emotions absorbing the darker power of the Chaos Emeralds. Or even...what Sonic's friend Sun had gone through with that beast inside him." The black hedgehog thought, his frown deepening. This has to be investigated further, that he knew of.

Just then, as they heard since arriving to the Amusement Park early this morning, both Shadow and Omega heard Eggman's obnoxious voice blare through the intercom.

"_**Please keep your hands and feet inside the car at all times, because there are tiny asteroids traveling at incredible speeds, hurtling through space. Keeping your hands and feet in the car won't prevent you from being hit, but our lawyers tell us we have to say it anyway.**_"

That made Shadow raise an eyebrow as he commented. "He's an evil genius yet afraid of getting sued." He rolled his eyes before glancing over to his ally, stating. "Omega, your creator is an imbecile."

"**Affirmative.**" Omega said in agreement.

Before the duo could continue their conversation, they heard a familiar cheering from a voice that they knew all too well. Especially Shadow. Turning their attention to the road below them, they caught sight of a faster than normal blue blur surrounded by a trail of rainbow colours zoom past them, unaware of their presence and charting into a tunnel close by. It wasn't hard to recognize who that was.

"**Analyzing individual: Sonic the Hedgehog. Ally detected.**" Omega announced as he scanned the increasingly fast speed from Sonic who was unaware of their presence.

"Not him again." Shadow sighed in exasperation, shaking his head. Of course Sonic had to be here; the younger blue hedgehog always had to be ahead of everything, especially when it came to Eggman. If so, if his rival was here then so were one or some of his friends.

Shaking his once more, and deciding that perhaps he could get answers from the teenager, the black hedgehog turned to Omega, saying. "I'm going to speak with that blue hedgehog. Continue to pin-point Dr. Eggman's factory and contact me when you're done. While you're at it, see if you find any of his friends and speak with them as well."

"**Affirmative. Mission accepted.**" The robot replied, and soon he took off to partake his next mission.

Left on his own, Shadow turned his gaze to where Sonic had left and whispered to himself. "Just how long have you been here, Sonic? More than anything...how are you feeling?"

Despite their difference, and he would never admit it to anyone, the black hedgehog had actually been worried about the younger blue hedgehog for the last two months considering what happened before. Nodding to himself, he leaped down and skid his way on a grind rail, skating towards where Sonic had gone off into.

* * *

"Weird. I coulda sworn that I just spotted Shadow and Omega." Sonic thought to himself as he continued running through the tunnels, taking out more robots along the way and having avoided falling to his death via the crazy roller-coasters and deadly green goo. The Wisps inside him were still lending him their powers despite that really didn't want to absorb all of their energy, afraid of what would happen to them.

He then shrugged and said. "Probably just my imagination. Kinda hard to tell when I'm going this fast with the aliens' boost power within me."

Eventually the white aliens emerged from him and they said their goodbyes before the trio took their leave.

"Be safe, guys. Live free." He whispered, before turning his attention to what he saw was a block in a road, a huge wall filled with containers that were holding the power of the Hyper-Go-Ons. Sonic's heart dropped into his stomach as the dreaded feeling of what kind of transformations the Wisps that had all of their energy taken away from them, and then noticed another capsule near the crystal wall.

Unlike the other Wisps he encountered, it was another new one he'd seen since before arriving in Yacker's home yesterday. It was purple, which was one new thing. But what really had taken Sonic's attention was that looked very...corrupted somehow. It's head was round with five carved-back tentacles on it, three wide tentacles stemming from it's head, ending with a jagged point. What was most disturbing as he found himself approaching it slowly and very carefully, it lacked eyes and in it's place was a sharp-toothed serrated mouth with a menacing and terrifying grin.

"Well..." Sonic trailed off, gulping with a sweat-drop. "That's pretty ominous and terrifying, for a Wisp. Hope it's not hungry. Wonder why I haven't seen this kind back on Planet Wisp."

Suddenly an even more horrifying thought came into mind and he softly gasped as his eyes widened in realization. "Unless...this is the transformation they go through once they lose their energy."

Could this be what Eggman was talking about? That he knew off? If so, then this somehow half-outranks the concept of death the Wisps would've suffered and it was even more terrifying.

While Sonic shivered and whimpered softly when the purple alien noticed him and seemed to grin even wider, he knew that he had to free it and somehow restore it's energy back into it. Gulping nervously again, he hesitantly reached out and pressed the button to open the capsule before instantly stepping back for safety precautions. The purple alien simply hovered there, gazing around it's surroundings before turning to look at the increasingly frightened blue hedgehog who stood there, paralyzed in fear.

"Um...H-hi?" Sonic quivered in greeting. "Are you...transformed into this? Did Eggman...do this to you?"

The corrupted Wisp only sneered and leaned forward, which made the blue hedgehog wince and lean back as he could sense the fury and corruption underneath the alien. He tried not to run away, hoping to get through to it without something bad happening.

"I-I just want to help you. I'm angry with what's happened, so please. Give me a chance...I'll figure something out, I promise." He said, shaking even more.

The response he got was nothing Sonic had expected. The purple Wisp hissed as it flew straight towards him, causing the blue hedgehog to gasp in fear as it flew towards him and, overcome by fear, he attempted to dodge out of the way when it was somehow faster then him and it flew right into his chest of dissolved energy that was all purple and misty like which instantly gave him horrible memories of Dark Gaia.

Along with that, the feeling he got from this Wisp was much more different to the other Wisps that went inside him, and far more painful.

"_AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!_" Sonic screamed in agony, his insides burning at the sudden cold and strong negative energy that coursed through his veins. He hugged himself tightly, squeezing his eyes shut as he collapsed onto his knees. The blue hedgehog could feel the corrupted alien taking over his body, his senses and no matter how hard he tried to fight it, his will was losing quickly and soon all he could feel was hatred, rage and despair, the desire to destroy everything in his path.

His heart pounded loudly in his ears as his breathing began more like a beast's, soon transforming into a frenzic manifestion of the corrupted alien, a monster of it's fury. Sonic's will and soul had become trapped within his own body, with the possessed Wisp beginning to smash everything in it's path, from the wall that held containers to pretty much everything else in the small area which included robots that heard the commotion and arrived, charging only to be smashed into pieces almost in an instant.

Each time he did, his size increased until eventually even the wall that blocked his path was gone and there was nothing left to be destroyed in the room. Hitting a capsule filled with Hyper-Go-On energy and causing it to be smashed, the released power flowed all around which, as the blue hedgehog, trapped within a black void and terrified with the thought of being stuck like this forever, shrank down to normal size and finally returned to normal. He winched in pain and exhaustion as the corrupted alien emerged from his chest.

Though as it did and seemed extremely and disgustingly pleased with itself, the released energy somehow gathered around it which caused it to flinch at the painful sensation before being completely covered in glowing lights of colours. It covered it's body and it went through a re-transformation; it gave out a shriek before it finally stopped. It's monstrous form was gone; in it's place was an exhausted and confused normal, green alien who looked around and saw the destruction before glancing down at Sonic who, still recovering himself, hadn't even noticed. It then sensed the fear and exhaustion and instantly felt guilty before it flew tiredly out to return home.

The blue hedgehog in the meantime panted heavily while trying to catch his breath, feeling sweat on his head, placing a hand to his chest. He tried to clear his thoughts of all the negativity he felt while having been helpless to fight it.

"M-man...Now I know that...it's definitely...the horrible transformation they have to...go through." Sonic panted, his voice sounding all dry and harsh. "It's worse than...than those world rings that were...forged inside me."

Finally regaining his energy and senses, the young Mobian winced before observing the damage and cringed. He let out a whistle at the mess that he made against his will. "This is awful. I can't believe all that negative energy caused all this."

Now that he thought about it, Sonic then realized that this was what Sun had been struggling with; the inner beast within himself attempting to take over and had ultimately done so a lot of times and it had taken Sonic's voice and tears to make his friend fight against the darkness and come to his senses. Unlike the other hedgehog, however, it had taken destruction to get him to pull himself free and he felt sick by the mere thought of it.

"Whoa...Mnyambo told me once that if things had been different, I'd be turned into a Werehog, but without creating the beast within me because of who I am. But Sun...he couldn't control it as much as the monster grew...because of my guilt and fears." Sonic whispered to himself, rubbing his arms as he shivered in fear.

To think that the Nega-Wisp was corrupted this way after losing it's Hyper-Go-On and then having that corruption take over it's mind terrifed him and the blue hedgehog deeply hoped that Yacker's mother didn't have the worst of it. If what he experienced caused all of this within the same room, he was too scared to think of what she would do if she lost all of her power.

"Eggman...what have you done?" He shuddered shakily. This only just made him even more determined to fix this mess and fast before things could get worse.

Before Sonic could even think of continuing on and hopefully find a solution on how to turn the corrupted aliens back to normal, a large shadow loomed over him and as he felt the sudden coldness, his eyes widened as a menacing shadow of a large beast towered and made visible on the wall. It looked like a hedgehog, but the light behind him didn't provide much comfort. He rubbed his eyes repeatedly before looking up again, hoping that it was just another hallucination.

Unfortunately, the negativity still lingering in his mind to which switched into fear and over-reaction and as he touched the wall, the blue hedgehog quivered as his eyes widened into pure horror which clouded his senses and not giving him the thought to actually turn around and see who or what it really was.

"WEREHOG!" Sonic exclaimed in fear, and immediately ran through the tunnel that was no longer blocked. The shadow of what he thought was the beast that may have returned to life stood there, before it followed him.

The blue hedgehog ran in high-speed while hoping to lose the giant monster that was still intenting on having him as it's meal. Sonic tried to think that he was already well ahead and gave a sigh of relief when he saw ziplines up ahead. It would prove to be a challenge, but anything worked as long as he could save the rest of the aliens, find and shut off the generator and avoid in being eaten or taken over along the way.

Eventually he landed on another platform and ran around the corner while breathing heavily, leaning against the rock wall. The adrenaline of paralyzing fear still crept along his skin as the combination of what he went through and what was going on now really made him paranoid and completely overcome by the intense feeling.

"It's gonna be okay...it's gonna be okay..." He repeated to himself in a whisper.

Just when the blue hedgehog thought he out-run the monster, his sensitive hearing caught the sound of whooshing from the zip-lines and when he looked to the side, he gasped as he saw the shadow of the Werehog getting closer and closer and with his mind, or his heart-he couldn't tell at this point-were playing tricks on him, he heard a huge thud of it landing and as Sonic looked for a way to escape he realized that he wouldn't have time to hop into the roller-coaster with out stretching out it's arm to catch him.

'_No...no, please, no! This can't be happening!_' Sonic thought to himself in horror as he ran to the side only to find himself trapped as it ended in a dead end, meaning that his only way to keep going was the roller-coaster. He was trapped.

Unable to believe with how the Werehog managed to catch up to him, the blue hedgehog spun around and, feeling a case of deja vu, stepped back until he ended up touching the wall behind him. He slid to the floor and attempted to scoot away while the shadow of the beast got closer and closer. Terrified beyond belief, he felt his fear grip him like the giant Werehog's enormous hand he was certain he was about to be captured in.

Not wanting to see his life end or even watch the monster approach him, Sonic squeezed his eyes shut as he braced himself for the horrible fate. He felt the looming shadow approach him slowly, covering him completely and his destroyer getting closer and closer until it towered over him.

"NOOOOOOO!" He exclaimed while raising his arms to at least try and shield his face even though he knew it would do him no good.

"...I can't believe I'm saying this, but...you're starting to scare me right now." A familiar voice, one that didn't belong to the Werehog but still darkish none the less, spoke.

"Huh?" Sonic muttered, slowly opening his eyes and hesitantly looked up, lowering his arms. His eyes widened in disbelief and no small amount of relief that the one that stood over him wasn't the monster as he thought it was. But a familiar black hedgehog that, despite neither having any connection apart from being able to harness the power of the Chaos Emeralds, was identical to him in the face.

Almost instantly his fears were washed away, and while the two aren't friends as much, the blue hedgehog was utterly relieved to see his rival who was still as emotionless as ever. Or maybe just naturally grouchy. It was hard to tell.

"S-Shadow?" The blue hedgehog blinked, realizing that it had been his rival that he'd been running away from and not the Werehog whom he realized now was still dead and always will be. Sighing in relief and embarrassment for his overreaction, he felt somewhat dizzy as he slumped against the wall, giving his friend an awkward smile. "Ugh. You nearly gave me a heart attack, man."

"You're the one that was overreacting." Shadow pointed out, before asking in a surprisingly soft-ish tone. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah. Just a little shaken." Sonic replied. "I'm in the middle of saving these cute aliens from Eggman's latest scheme, ended up fusing with one that lost their power and turned into...Uh...an alien full of negative energy, I guess, and made me go all crazy with destruction until it stopped and all of the negative energy left me feeling more than a little freaked out."

"You were fusing with these aliens?" The older hedgehog asked, somewhat surprised with a raised eyebrow.

The younger hedgehog nodded, "Their weird way of showing their gratitude to me for freeing them. Though this wasn't their Hyper-Go-On I felt this time."

"I see." Shadow muttered, before holding out a hand for Sonic to help him up. The latter accepted and was pulled to his feet.

"Sorry I reacted the way I did. See, since yesterday while I was trashing one of Eggman's giant killer robots, I was-" Sonic was cut off as he scratched the back of his head sheepishly.

"You were hallucinating, and given how you were screaming a few moments ago, it's the Werehog you're seeing. Am I right?" Shadow finished for him, which shocked the blue hedgehog.

Gasping softly, Sonic hesitantly replied to confirm it. "Y-yeah. How'd you know? Wait, did Rouge tell you yesterday?"

The ultimate life-form shook his head. "No, she didn't. Tell me, though. Have you also been hallucinating of someone that you miss? Someone you know that you won't see ever again?"

Sonic stared at his friend as he tried to comprehend on how the black hedgehog knew about what was going through, before gazing at the floor while answering. "I was seeing Chip. You know, Light Gaia. He...well, I guess you could say that he's been-"

"Giving you some sort of support." Again Shadow interrupted.

"Yeah!" The blue hedgehog confirmed, glancing up at him again before asking suspiciously. "Have you been spying on me yesterday or today even? How do you know what I'm going through?"

"In that order, no I have not been spying on you, and Omega and I only got here early this morning. As for how I know..." The black hedgehog trailed off, looking away somewhat awkwardly, before sighing. "I used to have hallucinations as well."

Sonic couldn't help but gasp softly in shock. He hadn't even thought that Shadow the Hedgehog would be having hallucinations like he was going through right now. Before he could even ask or even speak, his rival continued. "I kept on seeing Black Doom the first week after the black comet was destroyed. He repeatedly haunted me like he would when he was still alive and keeping an eye on me with his giant eye form. I also saw hallucinations of someone I haven't seen in years."

"...Maria?" Sonic softly asked, since it wasn't hard to guess on who the other person to never be seen again was.

It was no secret on how much Maria meant to Shadow despite their short time together. Like Sonic himself and Tails, the two had bonded almost immediately, and it wasn't fair that the young woman had her life taken away due to paranoia and misunderstanding. While she had been Eggman's cousin, and their grandfather had plotted to destroy the world after her death, the blue hedgehog had to admit that he would've liked to get to know her.

Shadow didn't say anything, but his expression said it all despite that he attempted to hide it. Sonic could see it in his eyes and to think that his rival's problem with hallucinations started only a week after Black Doom was destroyed, whereas the blue hedgehog only started experiencing his problem two months after going through the nightmare of Dark Gaia, and the Werehog.

"There were times when I attempted to ignore it, and I knew for certain the hallucinations are not real. But they followed me like a plague and a cure. Like a battle that was endless." The black hedgehog continued after a long tensed moment of silence.

"Sounds like the same problem I'm going through." The blue hedgehog commented with a sympathic smile, his arms folded. "In my case, the Werehog still wants to eat me. At least, that's what it feels and looks like."

"And you're still afraid of him." The ultimate life-form stated.

Sonic felt ashamed with himself, but nodded. "I know that he's gone, and Sun's a normal hedgehog now. Well, Mobian normal, anyway. I just can't get why I should be afraid of something or someone that won't come back, but I can say that Eggman's been the trigger of bad memories and I've been trying for the last two months to get over what happened back then. The last couple of days have been a nightmare."

"Try going through it for three months and then come and talk to me." Shadow grunted with a dark look, making the younger hedgehog's eyes widened in shock.

Three months!? Shadow has been living through it for three whole months!?

"...Shadow...I...I didn't know." The teenager muttered, almost completely speechless. He then demanded worriedly. "Why didn't you say anything? Or approach someone for help? I would've helped!"

"And what would you do!?" His rival snapped with a look of irritation.

"I..." Sonic trailed off, realizing that he had no idea. The only thing he could think of was Chip's advice and tried again. "I don't know! Just anything to help! Keep moving forward and don't ever look back, is what I would've said. I always do."

Realizing that it was the wrong thing to say, the young Mobian looked away. "At least...it had been easy before. Sorry, it was a stupid thing to say. I mean, I know for the fact that my guilt and sadness are what make the giant mutant hairball stronger, back when he was alive and they're what making me see him now. Chip's been telling me to not give into them and be myself. Tails, Knuckles, and Amy told me that neither the last mess or this one are any my fault. I just..."

Sonic looked away to hide his expression, trying to keep himself from breaking down. "...I know I can't ignore it, and I can't forget either. This isn't something I can brush off without sounding like a jerk. I love Mobius, and to have seen it break apart like that...and now seeing what these aliens are going through...I feel responsible for all of it in both cases. I know it's Eggman's way to get back to me, while still trying to build his-his stupid Egg Empire...!"

Turning around to face the wall as he tried not to cry again, he continued as silent tears fell. "I was told by the hallucination of Chip that...that my heart's like what our planet is going through, and that he could be...my forgiveness. Tails came up with the idea that I'm not forgiving myself. I just don't know how to really fix this and I hate losing! Why does it have to be the giant Werehog to haunt me!?"

"Because you're not only not forgiving yourself, but you are running away from yourself." Shadow whispered, in a shockingly and uncharacteristic sympathized tone.

"...Huh?" The younger hedgehog murmured, wiping away his tears and slowly turned to look at his rival. "What do you mean?"

"At first, I couldn't understand why Black Doom appeared to me through the hallucinations and I tried to figure it out, despite the...the comfort I had from Maria when I had promised to let go of my past once I regained my memories. It was then that I had forgotten, that I was created with his blood. I was able to resist his mind control despite that both he and Professor Gerald Robotnik are the reasons of my existence. I had been fearing him, because I was fearing myself." He explained.

"So you told yourself to stop being scared?" Sonic asked, a little curiously and began to feel where this is going. In fact, the more he heard Shadow's dilemma that he hopefully seemed to have gotten over, the more the blue hedgehog began to understand that perhaps his problem is just like it, only in reverse.

"I suppose that's one way to put it." Shadow smirked a bit with a scoff. "But no, I ended the inner conflicted by heeding Maria's advice, because she was my support. The two have manifested by my emotions by thinking of the life I have now, that I am in control of my own destiny and mind. Like a dream or a nightmare that are mine alone."

Sonic's eyes widened before placing a hand onto his chest as realization hit him hard, remembering what the hallucination of Chip had been trying to tell him; or rather the pure side of his heart had been trying to tell him and up until yesterday, that kind of fight had been taken to a whole new level because of Eggman's presence. He'd been fine up until just before he fought against the giant Ferris Wheel.

"I get it. How could I have forgotten that both Sun and that over-sized fuzz-ball come from me? That Egghead's machine that zapped me and drained the Chaos Emeralds' power, tiny traces of my quills, my tears, my anger, guilt and sorrow, and the darkness from Dark Gaia are what created them, even though Sun developed his own heart and free will of a Mobian, and the Werehog becoming his own being." He stated, feeling like he finally understood.

The blue hedgehog shrugged sheepishly and in embarrassment. "I can't believe I hadn't figured that out."

"Yeah, well, be lucky that I said something to stop you from going through it for months. But don't think it's because I'm here to save you." The black hedgehog rolled his eyes, though he was secretly relieved that his rival was finally getting the picture, with a little help on his part.

"Oh, so you thought I was helpless and just ran around not doing anything, huh?" Sonic asked, finally relaxing and smirked. "In case you haven't noticed, I've fought giant killer robots since yesterday, making friends with cute aliens that haven't lost their Hyper-Go-Ons yet, freed their beautiful planet full of life and nature, even making friends with a giant whale who swallowed me just to help me out, and also yesterday I managed to avoid in being turned into a hedgehog pie when I fell into a giant blueberry pie at Sweet Mountain over that giant pie factory."

Shadow couldn't help but smirk in amusement himself even though he grumbled. "I had a feeling you were one step ahead as usual. You always are when it comes to Dr. Eggman."

Sonic just laughed. "What, you jealous that I figured that our resident evil scientist had an evil plot again? I felt it since Tails and I saw that elevator and I knew that coming here to investigate was a good idea. No matter how cool the park is."

"Well, I didn't think you were still hanging around."

"Hey, it was late by the time I freed the alien's home world, so we ended up spending the night there. Apart from the construction site, that place is incredible." The blue hedgehog pouted slightly.

"Right." The ultimate life-form raised an eyebrow. "How many of these 'attractions' have you freed so far?"

"This place is the last one. I already freed the Aquarium Park earlier today, and thanks to Tails and his new cool Sea-Mask, I didn't have to worry about drowning." Sonic explained.

"That explains the lack of chains on the other planets Omega and I been to early this morning, and of all places we went to first, it was Sweet Mountain." Shadow grumbled, before asking in a hint of disbelief and disgust. "How can there be such a world of nothing but sugar? That's just asking for diabetes."

"No clue, but at least it tastes good. Had a taste of giant vanilla ice cream and a chunk of chocolate I shared with Tails and Yacker." The fifteen year old chuckled.

"And who is this Yacker?"

"One of the aliens I saved. Tails made this translating thing that helped us understand what he's saying. Sweet little guy and he's the one who's been telling us about the Hyper-Go-Ons and what Eggman's been doing." Sonic answered, before snickering while adding. "Not to mention it was from him that we learned what the aliens call that fathead."

"Which is...?" The black hedgehog trailed off.

"Baldy Nosehair. I call him McNosehair now along with everything else." The blue hedgehog laughed.

Even though Sonic still found it funny, he didn't think that Shadow would be laughing since the guy who was fifty years old yet not looking anywhere near that age had no sense of humor. To this surprise, the usually stoic hedgehog held a ghost of a smirk of amusement.

"It does suit him." He chuckled softly.

"Do I hear a sense of humor under that usually grumpy shell?" The blue hedgehog couldn't help but tease.

Shadow chose to ignore him and instead told him firmly, his smirk being replaced by his usual serious expression. "Well, seeing how you've come this far, you have a job to do. Go take care of the doctor."

"Ugh. Party pooper." Sonic groaned, rolling his eyes. He should've seen this coming. He then sighed, "Alright fine, I'll get goin'. Still gotta free the rest of these aliens first, as well as finding Yacker's mom."

Just as he was about to climb into the roller-coaster of doom for a ride he knew was going to be bad, and given how crazy this place is, the blue hedgehog that he was in for it, his rival's voice stopped him once more.

"By the way, before you go." Shadow spoke up, making Sonic turn around and gaze at him. "The alien which has transformed you and caused you to go into a frenzy, it wouldn't happen to be green, would it?"

"Green?" Sonic blinked with an raised eyebrow. "No, the green ones makes me hover. The one that made me go all nuts in destruction was purple with no eyes and a creepy mouth with sharp teeth. Not to mention tentacles on it's head."

"How do you know? The one that passed me before you ran off thinking I was the Werehog was certainly green, and glowing with some kind of rainbow energy." The black hedgehog questioned. "Hmm, come to think of it, there were containers that were shattered and empty."

"Oh! The capsules that had the Hyper-Go-Ons in the wall! I forgot about that!" The blue hedgehog exclaimed, his green eyes widening in remembrance, before realizing what his rival meant and, remembering how he released some of the energy from the capsules that didn't have the Wisps, made him realize something. "Wait...If the alien that passed you wasn't the one I freed that turned me all crazy, and I smashed the capsule with the energy in it...the energy that was stolen from them..."

Maybe...releasing the Hyper-Go-On power from the capsules could actually flow back into the corrupted aliens that turned monstrous and having negative energy, and actually return them back to their original, true forms. Finally having another piece of the puzzle fitted in, a clue that may be the answer to save the corrupted aliens and restore them to normal, he felt a linger of hope rise.

"That's it!" Sonic exclaimed in relief and excitement, pounding a fist into his palm. "If I release the alien's stolen energy from the capsules, maybe it'll turn the ones that gotten them stolen back to normal! Maybe the green one you saw was the one that was all negative and the released energy saved it's life and freedom, Shadow!"

"That makes sense, considering." Shadow agreed after thinking about it. "Well then, you'd better get to-"

"Way ahead of you!" The younger hedgehog interrupted as he turned to the roller-coaster again, before pausing and glanced over his shoulder as a thought crossed his mind. "Uh, by the way. About that factory I mentioned, you've seen it yet?"

"Yes. Why?"

"Well, see there's this attraction Eggman built called "Bake Me Crazy" which has tourists and I'm not sure if I missed it or the factory is the actual ride itself. 'Cause let me tell you, the flamethrowers are definitely 350 degrees and there's no way anybody could survive that."

To his relief, Shadow shook his head. "That factory is not the "Bake Me Crazy" ride, Sonic. The real one is where people sit in a giant cake-tin like ride with seats that makes it look like and even feels like a real cake that flows into a tunnel resembling to a giant granny's oven and then come out all burnt before being cooled off by hoses. Why the doctor has built that thing, I'll never understand."

"Oh, phew. Amy was right!" Sonic sighed happily and in relief. "Now I don't have to be worried about Eggman being a people eater."

"Huh?" Shadow asked, confused. What in the world was his younger ally talking about?

"Don't worry about it!" He quickly said, waving it off. The blue hedgehog was utterly relieved that his joke and theory was wrong, that Eggman really hasn't gone that far after all. One less thing to worry about. "Hey, you mentioned that Omega's here, right? Where is he? I mean, I knew I saw you two guys earlier, I just thought it was my imagination."

"I've sent him to pin-point Dr. Eggman's secret hideout in this place. If anything, it's a factory. He should be meeting with your friend Tails by now." The black hedgehog answered, while a little surprised that the blue hedgehog had spotted him and Omega earlier.

"From what I've seen, the main part of it is somewhere around here, maybe even deeper, and I got a feeling it's near where the generator is." Sonic muttered, frowning in concern over the thought, still furious with the suffering the Wisps are going through. "And I'm gonna find them. These aliens have suffered way too much."

"I'll be looking around and see if I can help in freeing these creatures as well. Personally, they're a lot more gentle than the Black Army." Shadow stated.

The younger hedgehog smiled, before winking with a thumbs up. "Then I guess I'll be seeing you later! And Shads..."

"What now?"

Sonic smiled more sincerely at his rival, who, in an odd sort of way, was also his friend. Despite their rivalry and grudges in the past, he respected the ultimate life-form as a trust-worthy ally. After all, it had been Shadow who had also helped him two months ago, and in his own way, was helping him now as well as well as putting in the final piece of the puzzle of the hallucinations which made the comfort from the rest of his friends more stronger and reassuring.

"I know that you're not really helping me, I just wanna say...Thanks." He replied.

While once again slightly caught off-guard by those words and was reminded of Maria, how she and Sonic were somewhat alike in personality, Shadow gave a small hint of a smile himself.

"You can thank me by making sure you haven't gotten too soft later, Sonic. It's been a while." The black hedgehog replied with a challenging smirk.

"Oh, do I sense a battle?" Sonic replied, with his own challenging smirk. "Alright then, I'm all for it!"

"One more thing." Shadow spoke up. "As for your hallucination problem, don't focus on erasing it while in reality. Do it within yourself."

The blue hedgehog at first didn't know what he meant, but then realized the meaning of Chip's words and figured how; his heart was in a mental conflict and was just letting it happen. He didn't know how to mentally put it to an end yet, but he was going to try.

Sonic nodded. "You can count on it!"

With that, he gave his ally a two-finger salute before hopping into the roller-coaster and held on tightly as it took off, now more determined to continue the last stretch of his journey and quest to save the remaining aliens. Shadow watched him leave with his arms crossed.

"He never changes." He whispered to himself with a half-exasperated but admired smile.

* * *

Meanwhile, back at Tropical Resort, Yacker had been trying to locate a way into the secret basement of the place in hopes of finding his mother without getting caught himself. There were a few close calls and he'd been almost caught, but somehow managed to avoid it. He was worried about the rest of his friends, especially Sonic and Tails. The little cute Wisp was scared of what he was about to find and what kind of transformation that was out of their control was like.

But he had to do this, for the sake of his family, his home, his friends, everything. Yacker may not be a fighter, but he had to be brave. If Sonic faced his fears when the blue hedgehog fought against Eggman for the first time years ago and had succeeded, then the small alien can do this if he faced his own fears. Surprisingly there were hardly any robots around and wondered that there were any kinds of bodyguards.

Though the more he followed the tunnel and the directions deep further down that looked awfully like the construction site that was partially taking over his home, the more frightened he got, but the Wisp forced himself to continue on.

Finally, he noticed light of purple from around the corner that got his attention, though he also heard a deep, dark and huge growling that made him shiver in anxiety.

"%$# ?" Yacker muttered in a whisper, wondering what it was and both hoped and dreaded what he would find. Slowly hovering around the corner, the Wisp nervously peered behind it to see.

What he saw made his eye widen in horror and now small amount of devastation. A giant capsule that looked more like a glass dome with cannons of purple electricity attached that barely fit the room. It was sparking and sucking something, rainbow colours of the Hyper-Go-On power being drained and sucked up through the tubes to the ceiling and somewhere within the Amusement Park.

But what was within the dome was the worst part. Yacker instantly flew up to it and touched the glass with his finger-less hands with tears stinging his eye, a look of sorrow and loss formed.

"#$%$ !" He squealed in heart-break. Deep within was his mother, but...not who he recognized, but had gone through a horrible transformation, far worse than he had thought.

Even worse, she was almost completely drained from her Hyper-Go-On power. It was then that Yacker knew that time was really running out and he wouldn't be able to find Sonic for help if he left now.

He had to free his mother before it was completely too late. With determination as despite that his mother was motionless, Yacker flew back and then charged as fast as he could, but the glass was so thick that he ended up being bounced back and hit the wall behind him, and then fell onto the floor. Shaking his head to rid the dizzy spells, the desperate Wisp tried again, but was met with the same result.

That didn't stop him from trying. However, what he was seeing and attempted to free was only another step of the disaster that was yet to come. Because deep within her prison, the Mother Wisp only had negative thoughts as the last of her power was being drained away, and she could only think of a few things deep within her sleep.

Revenge, destruction...and hunger.

* * *

**A/N: Sorry that this chapter was shorter, but there are ideas I wanted to put into the next one. I'm terrible when it comes to action scenes, but I try my best.**

**Thanks again gregorian 12 for the idea on what Sonic and Shadow would say, even though I may not use the rest of it from the review you sent.**

**See you later!**


	15. Chapter 15: Self-Forgiveness

**Author's Note: Another chapter, another step closer to the final ultimate battle.**

**To gregorian 12: The scene with Shadow and Sonic did help, though please note that I may not use all the ideas you suggest for my stories as I don't always do requests, unfortunately, especially when I have ideas for my stories in my mind that I don't want to change. I hope you understand that.**

**Without further ado, let's continue on!**

**I do not own Sonic The Hedgehog. All rights belong to Sega.**

* * *

_Chapter 15: Self-Forgiveness._

"If this keeps up, I hope I don't become too paranoid with roller-coasters for the rest of my life." Sonic was complaining as he managed to land safely on the ground while avoiding in being plunged to his death. He had to leap from one roller-coaster to another which, while he was capable of doing it, he the same wouldn't be said for anyone else.

On top of that, he had to avoid even more asteroids, spin dashing into more Egg Pawns and using them as punching bags-or punching metal-to release some of his stress and frustration despite the renewed hope and reassurance that, if his theory was right, by releasing the stolen alien energy, it would return the corrupted ones back to their normal selves. The blue hedgehog passed by volcanoes of poisonous green goo, and found himself further into the insides of the planet.

He eventually found himself gliding his way on an unoperated conveyor like he would on the grind rails, and the deeper he went, the more the teenager found himself entering at least the outside part of the factory that was more like the inside.

"Huh...This reminds me of the Death Egg. Then again, a lot of Eggman's factories and hideouts usually look about the same to me." He thought to himself, glancing around the heavy construction and felt really uncertain and nervous with how dark it was. The blue hedgehog quickly shook his head and focused once more.

Because no matter how scary these places were, Sonic will keep going. He had to do this, because the aliens needed him. Now more than ever.

'_Hang in there, little guys. I'm coming to save you._' The blue hedgehog thought with determination. It grew as he leaped from one container which he smashed to free more of the stolen Hyper-Go-On energy to another before landing on a ramp which threw him into the air and he flipped with style to make a safe and stylish landing on the grey-rock path.

As soon as he did, Sonic sped off, not letting the scenery distract him this time or even considering on looking at it since it looked creepy enough. He was more worried about the aliens and he knew that their lives and their freedom were on the line. He soon found himself using the smaller asteroids to leap across to safety and continued onward.

Eventually after taking out several more robots that stood in his way, Sonic found himself facing another capsule with a Wisp inside it. To his dismay, it was another corrupted one that lost it's energy. Gulping nervously as there weren't any capsules of stolen energy close by, he knew that this one will have to be in this...evil form for a little while longer. He wasn't looking forward in having it's energy and it's corrupted will take over him, but there wasn't much of a choice.

Unless there was another capsule of the Hyper-Go-On down the corridor. Maybe if he went there as long as the Nega-Wisp didn't control him. Or afterwards...not that he wanted to go through that nightmare again.

"Worth a shot." He whispered to himself, and forcing himself to do this, he curled up tightly to spin dash right into the capsule. It smashed upon impact and the purple alien was released.

Sonic stepped back quickly as soon as it was freed, and when he gazed at it, the Nega-Wisp stared back with it's eye-less face and waved nervously at it. A moment of long, tensed and deathly silence that filled the air, the corrupted alien grinned which made the blue hedgehog flinch with a sweatdrop as it began to dissolve into energy once more.

"Wait wait wait wait wait wait!" The blue hedgehog cried out frantically as he waved his hands, hoping to get it to listen to reason. "I'm not your enemy! I only want to help you!"

Unfortunately, the purple Wisp flew straight towards him and while he narrowly ducked just in time to avoid it, the Nega-Wisp flew back to try again. The terrified hero stood up and stepped aside quickly only for the possessed alien to wrapped it's tentacles around his left arm in a tightening grip that his blood run cold, feeling the horrific alien-like feeling that stung like a jellyfish sting, coursing through his entire body and reaching into his heart like it was eating it away.

"AHHHHHH!" Sonic screamed, trying to pull the tentacles off of him, but was no use. "Let me go!"

The Nega-Wisp hissed and the blue hedgehog had to quickly yank his right hand away to avoid the alien biting it as it then dissolved into energy once more. Shaking like a leaf, he shut his eyes while attempting to brace himself for the painful, corrupted take-over. Again it consumed him, and as much as he tried to fight it, it was too powerful and he felt nothing but the desire for destruction once more, while his soul and will once again floated in the dark voice within his own body.

"**FRENZY!**" Sonic snarled darkly, once again transforming into an abomination of destruction, wrecking everything in his path, chomping onto rock and metal, thrashing at whatever he could attack, growing bigger and bigger to almost becoming too big to fit in the area he was in.

While deep within the void of his body, the blue hedgehog felt like he was floating, paralyzed with fear and while he was fully aware of what was happening, he was helpless to stop it. Above him, the corrupted alien hovered in a distance. Sonic thought it was going to last forever and he really didn't like it. All around him he could feel the auras of rage, revenge, destruction, fear, sorrow and hunger and it was slowly consuming him both on the inside as well as the outside.

"_STOP! STOP IT!_" Sonic pleaded, reaching out for the Nega-Wisp helplessly. "_I can't take it anymore! Please, let me go! I want to help you, I swear! But destroying everything in our path isn't the answer!_"

The alien, feeling like it was running out of space on the outside, decided that it had enough and began to shrink itself down, and finally to Sonic's relief, he returned to normal and let out a pained gasp and grunt while the Nega-Wisp emerged from his body. The blue hedgehog fell onto one knee, using one hand to support him as he breathed heavily.

"Ugh...I really...don't like...being frenzy..." The blue hedgehog groaned, attempting to regain his sanity and control of his body. His vision was blurred for a second until it was cleared, and he was able to regain control of himself. Before with the other aliens, their energy was more positive, they allowed him full control and he had been very careful in how to use them. At first it had been out of his control, but at least they didn't completely consume him.

Just as Sonic was regaining his bearings and had thought that he missed out on attempting his try his theory again, he heard a hissing sound and, eyes widening as he tried to not let any more negative thoughts run through his mind, he looked up to see that the Nega-Wisp, apparently even more far gone into the corruption and seemingly taking offense on what he said, sneered at him. The blue hedgehog slowly stood up to regain his footing and once he was certain he was back to normal, he waved at it again in fear.

Time to make a run for it.

"Hi! Bye!" He said quickly, and ran off down the corridor to try and avoid it in being absorbed by it's negative power again. Behind him he heard it hiss and snarl in anger and when the blue hedgehog looked over his shoulder, his eyes widened as he saw how fast it was and was quickly catching up.

"Wait! I'm just trying to find a way to turn you back to normal!" Sonic cried out as he continued to run along the rocky cave-like tunnel that was all patched with metal no doubt built in by Eggman's robots. The Nega-Wisp didn't seem to take kindly to that, as though it welcomed it's dark side and hissed again. He screamed and ran faster.

He eventually found himself outside again and somewhat on top of the factory, the roof maybe, when the Frenzy Alien was really catching up and beginning to dissolve into energy once more with every desire to take over him. The blue hedgehog looked around desperately for any sign of the Hyper-Go-On capsule and hoping that his theory was right. Finally he spotted it in the middle the path and willed himself to go even faster, to the point of glowing blue and going on into his full, true speed.

"This'd better work!" He exclaimed pleadingly, smashing it with a good hard kick as soon as he reached it and spun around just behind the now destroyed container. The rainbow energy glowed and floated as it was released.

Sonic watched and screamed as the purple alien was about to surge itself right into him again. He shivered before gasping in awe as the energy, as though sensing it's true owner, flew straight towards the corrupted alien who, seeing, or maybe sensing it, stopped instantly before it was surrounded by the power of the Hyper-Go-On. It was then covered in bright light of colours. As he watched, the blue hedgehog froze in place with anxiety while the alien, shrieking which ripped his heart into shreds, was changing shape right before his eyes which he had to shield with one arm to avoid in becoming blind.

The tentacles were vanishing and reforming into a familiar figure, one that he recognized. By the time the transformation was over, the light soon faded with the corrupted purple alien gone. In it's place was a Cyan Wisp who, blinking with it's restored eye, looked around in confusion and then realization, memories of what it went through filling it's mind. Sonic in the meantime, his own eyes widened at what he'd just witnessed as he lowered his arm, was stunned by amazment and soon found himself smiling in relief.

He did it. The blue hedgehog had restored a Wisp back to it's normal self. It's Hyper-Go-On power was restored to it's original owner.

"It worked...I was right...! It really did work!" Sonic exclaimed happily. The Cyan alien, hearing his voice, gazed at him and seemed to look rather guilty for what it did to him, which made his smile fade with sympathy. The restored Wisp gave a moanful, guilt-ridden and apologetic sad sound before turning to float away.

"# $%." The Cyan Wisp squeaked, it's head down.

"Hey, wait! Don't go! I know what happened, and it wasn't your fault." The blue hedgehog called, reaching out for it. His voice, concerned and forgiving, managed to reach it as the alien paused. "It's okay. I know you didn't do it on purpose. It was just the negative energy that consumed you. I freed your Hyper-Go-On to turn you back to normal. I wanted to save you, and I'm gonna save the rest of your friends and turn those who ended up like you did back to normal."

Sonic sighed, and continued in almost a whisper. "I will save them. I promise. I forgive you, little guy. I'm not one to hold a grudge against anyone except those with evil purposes. The one that I'm angry with is the man who stole your energy from you and turned you into..."

He paused, and shrugged a little awkwardly. "Well...turned you into a crazy little guy beyond your control."

That seemed to register into the alien, because it turned around with a surprised look, and then it flew towards Sonic who held up his arms to welcome it. The Wisp hugged him, nuzzling it's head against his chest in what he guessed was a severe apology and thanking him for saving it's life. The blue hedgehog just smiled and gently hugged it to comfort the shaken, gentle alien.

"Shhh...It's gonna be okay. It's alright, you're safe. You're free." Sonic whispered, carefully rubbing it's back to soothe it. He didn't like how it's frenzy form had taken advantage of him like that, but the blue hedgehog knew that it wasn't it's fault. It had been a prisoner on it's own body just as he had in his own, even only temporaliy.

The alien on the other hand had to live with it up until it got it's Hyper-Go-On back. It had to put up with this for days, weeks...two whole months. Not just this one, but the last one that also returned to normal...and many, many others in this world. It was then he realized the reason why; it wasn't because Eggman had other uses for them once he'd stolen their energy. It was because of how dangerous they were when they go all berserk.

Still, what that evil man was doing was just beyond cruel. Sonic then also realized that they had to go through such trauma of being used against their will, captured off-guard, drained away of their powers, transforming into uncontrollable beings and their world being suffered.

'_Almost exactly like...what I went through. Except that not only I didn't transform but ended up creating Sun and the Werehog, even though a little bit of the darkness got to me, but Eggman didn't imprison me. He just threw me and Sun out thinking that we were gonna die. That was his mistake with me, because I knew straight away...I had to fix it. And I did. Either he's scared of history repeating itself to him, or maybe he's careful in not letting the possessed aliens out on the loose 'cause they're dangerous that way._' He thought to himself.

Not only that, Sonic and Sun had survived their fall thanks to Chip even if he ended up with amnesia until the three of them reached the sixth Temple of Gaia.

"Hey, c'mon, little guy. Don't blame yourself." The blue hedgehog continued after a moment of silence, still attempting to comfort the Wisp that was left sniffling as it had began to cry. "It's okay to be scared. I know that being caught off-guard is the worst thing to happen, especially when the guy who captured you is a fat-headed loser who doesn't care about anybody but himself."

The Cyan Wisp blinked, tearfully gazing up at Sonic curiously as the latter gently wiped away it's tear with his finger. "I know what you and your friends are going through. He did the similar thing to me, except that he split my whole planet into pieces, and while I was lucky enough to not transform, it was still a horrible experience. In the end I managed to survive and put the world back together. Now, I'm going to save the rest of your friends and turn them back to normal, like I did to you and another little guy I saved earlier."

He gave the alien a comforting smile, as he continued. "All of you had nothing to do with what's been happening. But if we stand together, we can set things right. To do that, we can't let our guilt swallow us whole, 'kay? It...I know it won't be easy. Just remember, what you did was against you own control."

When the alien seemed to try and absorb his words but lowered it's gaze again, Sonic gently lifted it's face with a finger to have it look at him.

"I bet you wanna make up for what happened to me what?" The teenage hedgehog asked, and when the Wisp slowly nodded, hesitant, he then suggested. "Tell ya what, there might be some of your friends that are corrupted I won't be able to turn back to normal unless I free their powers that might not be close by. I don't want to burrow your Hyper-Go-On since you just got it back. But could you do me a favor and try and tell them that I want to turn back to normal? That way, what happened to both of us won't be as bad."

He sighed, and continued. "Then, lead them back home after they turn back when I do manage to free their powers. Could you do that for me? You don't have to if you don't want to, I understand. I don't wanna force ya'."

The Wisp seemed to be happy with the idea, because it's mood changed instantly and it became filled with very lively determination and nodded, hugging Sonic again, this time more happily that it was forgiven and that he had given it a suggestion that can help it make up for what it did to him. He laughed and embraced it again. They stayed like this until they let go and the Cyan Wisp flew around him before they shared a high-five.

It was thankful to be given a chance to atone, and with a cute salute to which the blue hedgehog returned with a thumbs up and a wink, the Wisp waved before taking off to begin it's new goal.

"Be careful!" Sonic called out to it as he watched the alien take it's leave. As he did, he then realized what he said was exactly what his friends had been telling him, and smiled softly.

"Man. I really haven't changed at all. It was just the trauma that got to me." He said to himself, which then another realization dawned and he frowned in sadness. "Shadow's right. I've been running away without realizing it. Because I...I don't wanna be a monster."

The blue hedgehog gazed at his hands, his heart sinking. "What happened back then...I was so scared that I'd become one, but I did end up creating one-"

He then gasped when he said this, and shook his head firmly with his eyes shut.

"No! That wasn't me. It was Eggman. He's the one who did that; I was just an unexpected lab subject, even when he didn't realize it. Sun and that monster did come from me, but none of their creations were on purpose. Besides, it's not like it hasn't happened before. The similar thing happened millions of years ago, except that..." He trailed off when he thought about Sun.

Sun the Hedgehog was almost lost that day when Dark Gaia fully emerged, but by miracle, he was brought back to life as a full own-being hedgehog(with a change of colour too). Before hand, the monster, the Werehog's soul had been destroyed, never to return.

"At least Sun was lucky enough to still be here. Both good and bad things did happen, but when has any of my adventures just had either good or bad?" Sonic shrugged, as his eyes narrowed. "Still, what I did...it was out of my control. Now the similar thing's happened to these aliens, except in their case it's worse; their planet isn't split up, but it has been kidnapped along with all of them. They're being drained of their powers and turning into beings that they can't control, like Yacker's mom told them."

Sonic glared up at the sky with anger, hissing under his breath. "All because of you, Eggman...! And it's still for your evil plot to take over my home! Now you're taking over the entire universe and that's the next level of low!"

Everything that's happened, both in the last adventure and this one, the suffering Sonic and everyone else had to go through, was all part of the evil doctor's usual scheme for dominion. Different plan, same goal. It's a cycle that's been going on for years and years.

"You hear me, Eggman!?" The blue hedgehog yelled, pointing at the sky. "I won't let you hurt these aliens ever again! And I WON'T let you take over my home or even the universe itself! If and when I see you again, you're gonna be served with a super-extra-large clobbering with 50 servings!"

"_**STILL LIVING IN YOUR OWN FANTASY, ARE YOU, LITTLE HEDGEHOG?**_"

Gasping as he heard that chilling voice of the hallucination, Sonic turned to his right and saw, standing beside the building and leering down at him was the Werehog, just as hungry as ever. For that moment he shivered in fear after his last episode at Aquarium Park, and their last conversation back on Planet Wisp, but then he remembered what Shadow had told him earlier.

_"Because you're not only not forgiving yourself, but you are running away from yourself."_

Realizing that he shouldn't be paying attention and would only confront the Werehog mentally when the time was right, the blue hedgehog tried to ignore his fear and instead stood his ground with narrowed eyes. This time he wasn't going to let this hallucination scare him, and focused not only his quest, but also everything his friends and the hallucination of Chip told him.

"I'm a little busy right now, fuzzy. Can't you wait until I'm ready to face you later?" Sonic replied in a firm tone, before turning and began to walk off towards where he was going, hopefully to find more aliens to save, to release the Hyper-Go-Ons and to shut off the generator.

"_**YOU WILL FACE YOUR PUNISHMENT NOW, MY LITTLE PREY. YOU HAVE BECOME WHAT YOU SHOULD BE; A MONSTER. JUST AS YOU ALWAYS ARE.**_" The Werehog sneered darkly, and while Sonic refused to let it get to him, he did pause in his steps.

"No." The blue hedgehog said, glancing over his shoulder with a hard glare. "I'm not a monster, and I never was. I'm only a monster if I just killed everyone and destroyed everything without a single care or just taking pleasure for it. That's not me. If I was, I wouldn't be crying, or feeling guilt or even care for others or save them and everything else."

The Werehog chuckled evilly, amused by his bravery. "_**BOLD AND BRAVE WORDS, SONIC. IT WILL NOT CHANGE OF WHAT YOU HAVE DONE.**_"

"That's not true!" Shouted Sonic, whirling around to glare at the monster, with some fear but he fought mentally to hold it back. "I didn't do it on purpose! Besides, I atoned for that mistake! And before you go and say it, the aliens that turned me crazy with the negative frenzy powers weren't their fault either! It was beyond their control! They're scared of what they've become! Both cases are all Eggman's fault!"

Breathing hard as he tried to hold back his fear and anger, the blue hedgehog felt tears sting his eyes as he shouted at the hallucination one more time. "When I'm ready to face you, I'll prove it! Until then...JUST GO AWAY!"

"_**YOU WILL NOT ESCAPE YOUR DARK SINS, HEDGEHOG!**_" The giant monster bellowed, shocked by this but mainly furious. "_**YOU WILL BE MINE!**_"

"SHUT UP!" Sonic screamed before turning and ran as fast as he could, attempting to really ignore it, and while he came to a heart-wrenching realization that he was doing it again, that he was running away from the hallucination, from himself, he didn't have a choice. He had to calm down and be fully ready. He just needed to figure out how to do so first.

But until then, the blue hedgehog had to continue his goal without letting the hallucination distract him any further. He could mentally hear the monster hiss and growl darkly before it faded away for the time being.

'_Just you wait, hairball! I'm gonna prove to you that I'm stronger! That you're just my nightmares, everything that I'm scared of. My bottled up sins I've kept for way too long, that I need to get over and move on. I can do it!_' Sonic thought to himself as he ran, focusing on his determination to accomplish his goal.

He stopped at mid-thought as the final piece of this puzzle came to him like a brick wall he'd end up crashing into once and while. Bottled up sins...

'_That's it! Now I know what he really is! The Werehog is my guilt, my dark sins. Seeing Eggman must've set it free to make me hallucinate. Not only that, with what's been going on with the aliens, it's another trigger. I was fine up until then, but I still felt awful about it. Chip...he's my forgiveness. Everybody's supported me, forgiven me for my mistakes. Except for one person...and I know exactly who that is, since he's a lot more closer to me than anybody; in fact, he's running around right now._' He thought to himself.

Feeling his own faith renewed and his determination stronger than ever before, Sonic nodded to himself with a confident and determined smirk, as he continued onward. He'll be ready. The blue hedgehog just had to figure out how to finish his heart's inner conflict. Like Shadow did.

* * *

"_**The Black Hole Parade starts in five minutes. Don't miss it! It's so entertaining, that it sucks you right in!**_" Eggman's intercom echoed all around the inside of the cave, the deeper parts of the factory, that Sonic was traversing through. He had gone fighting more robots and saving more aliens, some that still have their Hyper-Go-Ons, and another two that forced him into a Frenzy.

Fortunately, they weren't as bad as the previous ones, and he had a feeling that the alien he turned back to normal had already spoken to them. While it was still a terrifying experience, he found that, grudgingly, they allowed him some control and when he couldn't find the containers that held their powers close by, they flew away as they were. He just hoped that when he did spot and cracked open those capsules that those powers had gone off to their owners.

"Definitely avoiding that one. But then again, being sucked through a black hole can at least take you to...wherever else you end up for the rest of your life. Hate to admit it, but it beats in being locked up in a container, a prison, a place like this that makes a person like me claustrophobic, or a giant stomach anyday." The blue hedgehog thought to himself, shuddering at the thought of all four horrible scenarios. Not that being sucked into a black hole was any better.

He'd much preferred to avoid all five of those...and definitely avoid in drowning underwater, let alone being under it in general despite his adventure with his Sea-Mask earlier.

As he was musing himself with these thoughts, Sonic had come across more robots that stood in his way, and skid to a stop when they were blocking his path to the platforms in an area that was made up of it. The blue hedgehog folded his arms impatiently as he tapped his foot while the Egg Pawns prepared for an attack to eliminate him.

"Excuse me, but I'm in a middle of saving my friends here? Would you kindly move aside, or do I have to force you?" The blue hedgehog spoke.

The Egg Pawns responded by one of them firing a laser at him, to which he easily dodged before leaping up into the air and homing attacked it, smashing it right in the middle and causing it to not only be smashed partially in pieces, but also stumbling and falling over to it's demise. Sonic then jumped out of the way when another charged and attempted to bash him, only for the blue hedgehog to kick at it right in the jaw and towards one of the platforms...only for a wall to pop out and knocked it down towards the same fate as it's fallen comrade.

"...Well, that's both dangerous and helpful." Sonic remarked with a sweat-drop, knowing that he had to time when he leaps and avoid in being knocked over. Having an idea, the heroic teen leaped over the remaining Egg Pawn and waited until the wall went back in before dashing away quickly before he'd end up hit.

Unfortunately for the robot, it charged and gave chase at the wrong time because it ended up being knocked over, being the third to be fall to the same fate. The blue hedgehog smirked as when he reached to safety out of the harms way of the walls, he gazed at where his opponents fell and despite them being destroyed, he still taunted them by giving a raspberry.

"Have a nice trip, guys! See you next fall!" The blue hedgehog called down, feeling a bit better before continuing on.

It was somewhat a smooth run as Sonic repeated the process while avoiding in getting killed by pretty much anything in this place and as he predicted back at the Egg Shuttle, this was the darkest world he'd ever been in. It hadn't been as fun as it sounded and the more he ventured into the factory and the near end of the world, the more he just wanted to save the rest of the aliens, shut off the generator and get out of here. Maybe it was because he was fueled by his determination to rescue the Wisps, considering how much they have suffered so much.

Yet he still hasn't found Yacker's mother. Maybe she was in the deepest part of the factory? Must be.

Eventually he came across another capsule which, as he skid to a stop, his heart froze that it was another purple Wisp. But as Sonic got a closer look at it, he softly gasped as he realized that this one wasn't a frenzy alien. It's head was more round, and it was more violet in colour. What made things was that it seemed really...lifeless, emotionless, almost as still as a statue. It still had no eyes, but it wasn't as terrifying.

His heart dropped. Had he actually been right and the Wisps really do die? Was the alien within the capsule...dying?

"No..." The blue hedgehog whispered in despair, fearing for the worst. Tears began to form as he quickly cracked open the capsule. "NO!"

It opened, and Sonic expected the Wisp to hopefully at least move. But the alien just hovered there and he was surprised that it could still do that. His heart broke for the umpteenth time in the last two days, and fearing that he was too late, fearing that what he thought yesterday before learning from Yacker what was going on was really true and not even the Mother Wisp knew of it, the blue hedgehog tried not to break down into tears, but the fact that this poor alien wasn't even moving at all re-established his fears.

"Poor little guy..." Sonic whispered, his voice full of tears as he slowly reached out. He half-expected another violent reaction from this Wisp, but it didn't react at all when his fingers gently brushed against it's alarmingly cold body. Shocked by this, he slowly retreated his hand. "Oh man. You're freezing."

The alien still didn't do anything, except to dissolve into energy and flowed into the blue hedgehog who winched. It wasn't as painful as the Frenzy Wisps' destructive negative energy. In fact, he almost immediately lost all feeling; his emotions, his body, everything. Like an empty void. As he was losing all of it, he found himself transforming into a small black hole, and in a different, less violent sort of way, he consumed everything in his path which hovering forward, swallowing up metal including security robots that came at the wrong time.

Even when he struggled to break free from this feeling of feeling nothing, Sonic knew that this is far worse of a fate Eggman had placed upon the Wisps. As he grew bigger in size, he wanted this to all stop, but it was beyond his control. He wanted to feel again. After what felt like hours while it was only a few minutes, the negative energy ran out and the blue hedgehog was back to normal. He dropped to the ground almost dramatically, while the Violet Wisp just continued to float there as it also reverted back to it's current state.

Sonic gazed at it with sympathy and concern.

"This is so terrible. I can't believe Eggman did this to you." The blue hedgehog whispered, not hesitating as he gently rubbed the Violet Wisp on the side of the head, and felt even worse when it still didn't do anything much. It was like the alien had become...a robot. Only not moving at all. The poor thing might as well be a rock at this point.

It was still alive, though. Just barely.

"I can't think of anything worse than having no feelings at all." He continued, and the alien still didn't respond as much. He then looked around for any signs of hope to at least help it; a capsule filled with stolen Hyper-Go-On energy. As luck would have it, the blue hedgehog spotted it to his right.

Nodding to himself as he knew that it was the Violet Wisp's only hope left for returning to normal, and survival, Sonic told the alien to wait where it was before he spin dashed right into the container. As he had hoped, the rainbow energy flowed, before it consumed the Wisp who just floated. Though during the transformation, it seemed to be more painful and Sonic's heart ached when he heard the pained cries. Thankfully it didn't last long as it was complete, and like the Frenzy Aliens, the Void Alien had returned to it's original state.

This one was a Cube Wisp who, blinking owlishly, glanced around and, feeling life and feelings right back into it's body, it was more lively, more alive, more emotional. After looking over itself and Sonic slowly approached it with sheer relief yet worried that it might act all crazy now that it got it's emotions and powers back. All of it's ability to feel...anything.

"Hey...You alright?" He asked softly.

The blue alien glanced over at him and, remembering everything that it went through, became quickly overwhelmed with it's restored emotions after being without it for so long, it teared up uncontrollably and immediately hugged Sonic who stumbled back a little in surprise, and then felt so sorry for the Cube Wisp. It was crying it's sweet, little heart out. It had been so scared, so sad, for having gone through all of that. It shattered Sonic's own heart.

"Aw, little guy..." Sonic whispered, his own tears silently falling, before gently hugging it back and carefully nuzzling it's head with his muzzle, doing his best to comfort the distraught alien. "Shhhh, shhh, shhh...It's okay. You're gonna be alright. I promise, everything will go back to normal."

The blue Wisp just continued to cry, and while the blue hedgehog didn't like tears or seeing anyone so sad, he just let it to try and get back into feeling anything again. It reminded him so much of when after he used his third and final wish to imprison Erazor Djinn back into his lamp, that Sonic had used his final wish from Shahra for a mountain of hankerchiefs, mainly for her to use to help her get through her crying when she had been so sad.

'_I promised that she'd be smiling by the end of that journey. Guess she did, to some extent. But that's still no excuse for what we've been through together._' He thought to himself as he continued to comfort the sad, adorable and restored alien.

They stayed like this for a little while longer until the Wisp's crying softened to sniffles, while Sonic gently rubbed it's back and the back of it's head before the two glanced at each other.

"Feeling any better, buddy?" He asked with a soft smile. The blue alien stared back, sniffling but found that it was feeling a lot better for the first time in what felt like forever. It had needed to cry, it had needed someone to comfort it, to save it, and Sonic had done all of that in their short time in knowing each other.

It snuggled against his chest, and he smiled warmly. He didn't need Tails' translator to know what it was saying. Sonic had felt it when they had briefly merged. "Hey, don't you worry. I'll save the rest of your friends and turn them back to normal. You guys had gone through so much horrible things, all because of one guy I know as Eggman, who you know as Baldy Nosehair."

" #$%$&." The Cube Wisp squeaked softly, looking up at him once more.

"I know what he's doing, and this is way beyond cruel even by his standards. That's why I'm gonna put an end to his evil plot once and for all. That way you and your buddies can all be together again and go home safely." The blue hedgehog vowed with determination.

That cheered the alien up almost immediately, because it began cheering and nuzzling it's head at Sonic's cheek, causing him to laugh before the two released each other and it flew around much more lively around him. They then shared their goodbyes as he didn't want to burrow it's restored power, worried that a side-effect could happen, and as he watched his newly restored friend fly off to freedom, the blue hedgehog sighed in relief and content.

"I'm so glad that he's gonna be okay." He said to himself, before his expression turned to a serious frown as he turned to where he still had to go. "Still, Eggman has gone way too far."

To think that the aliens had to suffer like this, both going all frenzy and those who had been completely drained of everything...Sonic felt both in every inch of his heart, like he was...within the darkest voids of their own hearts; helpless and afraid, like they had lost the battle against the darkness within them. Unable to escape without outside help.

"Wait a sec!" Sonic suddenly exclaimed, placing a hand to his chest. "Inner conflict...I was inside them just I was inside myself. I felt...like they were trying to tell me...they wanted me to help them. But in a disturbing way."

A mixture of both the Nega-Wisps attempting to take control, yet some of the normal side of the aliens still let him go. Giving him enough time to save them completely, as they had been unable to do so themselves. While Sonic felt bad for thinking about his own problems, he remembered what Shadow told him before they parted ways.

_"As for your hallucination problem, don't focus on erasing it while in reality. Do it within yourself."_

Then he remembered what the hallucination of Chip had said yesterday.

_"Only you know the answer in your heart, Sonic. You always did."_

"I've always listened to the more positive side of me, because that's who I am. Deep down, I knew it was the right thing. It's what...my heart always told me. I get it now." He whispered to himself.

He also recalled what Tails had said.

_"And if you forgive yourself, the hallucinations should stop."_

The blue hedgehog remembered more and more of his friends' advices, their support, their comfort, everything. Just as he had been comforting them, and now had comforted the aliens, as well as opening up more. Tightening his fist, and despite that he was nervous on how to do this, he knew what he had to do. After all, it was his life, his body. And no hallucination of a dead monster was going to take over him.

"I know that I don't have much time for this, but...I can't let the hallucinations distract me anymore." He muttered.

Inhaling before exhaling deeply, Sonic knew what he had to do now. It was going to be a tough mental battle, but all of his battles were tough and he emerged victorious. This time was no different.

"Time to end this conflict, and fix up my heart." With that in mind, the blue hedgehog walked a bit further ahead before finding a good hiding spot for him to not be seen by robots that could ambush him, and while he wouldn't normally sit still, he had been floating subconsciously in times in the past during battles.

Now the time has come for him to do this on his own.

"Here we go." Sonic whispered, and finding himself nervous while gulping, he told himself that he had to do this. It was now or never. Taking a deep breath, he took a seat against the wall and closed his eyes.

He focused on reaching into his mind, his heart...anywhere inside him to face his emotions. At first all he saw was darkness, and he could still hear the noise of reality. But the blue hedgehog paid no attention to that. Soon, the more he focused, the more he found himself mentally drifting, and it wasn't to sleep. He did what many people didn't.

Sonic submerged himself into his subconsciousness, preparing to face one of the toughest battles of his life.

* * *

When Sonic thought it was harder than it seemed, he felt like he was waking up before he discovered that the sounds of metal and winds seemed to have vanished. As he opened his eyes thinking that he had to try again, and maybe that this wasn't a good time to do it, they widened as he found that he wasn't in the corridor anymore. In fact, he wasn't even on the Asteroid Coaster.

Where he was now was a desolate wasteland of dry dirt, dead trees, dried up grass, the sky was a mixture of purple, violet and crimson red that created a haunting appearance, lakes had dried up and were replaced by lava pits, mountains all broken as though they'd been hit by a meteor shower, waterfalls that had become lava falls, up ahead was a deep abyss of the ground being cracked apart, leaving a huge massive gap that the blue hedgehog had no hope of reaching even with his speed, that the only way across was via flight.

Though with the sounds of thunder rumbling, flying may not be such a good idea. At first he was shocked and horrified of the place, but then he realized as he stood up what this place really is.

Sonic the Hedgehog was within himself, the deepest and most wounded part of his heart. The scar from his previous adventure that refused to go away, that couldn't heal properly and now he knew why.

"Whoa...I knew that I felt terrible for the last two months, but I didn't think I was feeling _this_ bad. It's like I'm a place that's out of my worst nightmares." Sonic muttered, and mainly because he couldn't forgive himself for something that he didn't do on purpose but felt responsible, and that he had been so afraid of becoming an evil monster of destruction. The destruction in this mental place...

It was horrifying. Chip was right; he had really being slowly destroying himself, drowning, burning, and drying up with everything he felt, all because he didn't have it to forgive himself. The blue hedgehog knew then and there, in order to fix himself, he had to overcome his guilt, fears and sorrow. Not to mention watch out for his rage as well.

To do that, he had face the very monster that had been haunting him for almost two days. Taking a deep breath, he walked a couple of paces as he attempted to find a decent position and gazing around his surroundings. After walking a couple more steps, unable to believe that he had let it go this far within himself without even realizing it, he stopped and knew there and then, the time has come to heal his wounded heart.

"I know you're there, Werehog." Sonic spoke up boldly, standing in his place as he braced himself for his inner battle. "Come out and show yourself."

As if on cue, the blue hedgehog heard it. That chilling, dark, monstrous, evil chuckle fill the air that made him freeze in place. He could feel it's presence, and it was very close. His emerald green eyes darted around anxiously while attempting to stay calm.

'_Remember, Sonic. You're in control. Remember everything you've learned. This isn't real; this is within yourself._' He thought to himself, even though this did feel real to him. Sonic decided to act like this is all a dream, a dream where he can be in full control.

It was then that he sensed and heard something materialize and land on the ground with a thud behind him. Sonic gasped before turning and saw the Werehog right there, and already it had stretched out it's right, giant pale clawed hand out to grab him. The blue hedgehog immediately leaped out of the way and landed a good safe paces away from his inner enemy, but refused to run away. The monster turned to tower over him, but kept it's distance.

"How are you doin', hairball?" Sonic greeted with a taunt, trying hard now to let his fear grip him. Even if he was facing it as well as his other emotions in a manifested form that was from his memories.

"_**TAUNT ME ALL YOU WISH, SONIC THE HEDGEHOG. BUT I AM PLEASED THAT YOU HAVE FINALLY SUCCUMBED TO YOUR DARK SINS.**_" The Werehog sneered with an evil grin that beared it's sharp fangs, licking his lips hungrily. "_**MY LITTLE TREAT.**_"

"Your threats don't scare me. Not anymore." The blue hedgehog replied, standing his ground even if he felt himself pounding all over his body. "I didn't give into my sins. I'm here to face them head on, and the only way to do that is to beat you in a fight."

The Werehog just ended up bursting with laughter at the teenager's words. "_**YOU CANNOT FIGHT AGAINST ME, HEDGEHOG. LOOK ALL AROUND YOU; THIS IS WHAT YOUR HEART IS MEANT TO BE.**_"

Sonic felt some of his courage dim a little as he glanced at his surroundings, as the giant monster continued. "_**ISN'T THIS BEAUTIFUL? WHAT DO YOU THINK, SONIC? A WORLD OF NO LIFE, NO GREENERY. JUST AN EVERLASTING DESTRUCTION AND DESPAIR.**_"

"It's more like a doomsday field to me. It's horrible." Sonic replied, rubbing his arms as he shivered. "Even though there's lava around here, it's freezing. I don't like this at all. A world of no life or anything, just like this...it's not a world at all. It's worse than the underworld, and a close second to what Eggman's world would be like."

"_**SUCH A PITY YOU DON'T LIKE IT. BECAUSE THIS IS WHAT IT SHOULD BE. A WORLD JUST FOR YOU. YET IT DOES NOT MATTER, AS YOU WILL NOT BE IN CONTROL.**_" The Werehog stated with a chilling, monstrous grin.

It smirked as it held up it's arms to the sky as it continued, as though addressing to the world and all those who had become subjected to it's rule."_**YOU BELONG TO ME, SONIC. I AM SUPERIOR TO YOU. I AM A LIVING ORGANISM. I AM THE GHOST TO RETURN TO LIFE. I AM-**_"

"Nothing more than my dark sins." Sonic corrected and finished, cutting the Werehog off.

"_**HM?**_" The large monster hummed, gazing down at him while lowering it's arms. The blue hedgehog, who had been remembering hard on what his friends told him, gazed up at his enemy with a serious expression.

"You're just a manifestation of all of my feelings of hurt I've kept bottled up inside me for way too long. My guilt, my fears, my sorrow, and my anger. The latter part mostly at Eggman, but some of it, along with the rest of what I felt and couldn't face more aimed at myself." He continued, standing his ground.

Sonic took a step forward while lowering his arms with a hard glare, quickly adding. "You're everything that I couldn't forget, but I couldn't find within myself to face them 'cause I was scared. I was frightened with what I did, even if it wasn't my fault, but I felt solely responsible 'cause I wasn't careful enough. I was reckless, but I didn't have a choice. I had to find a way to face that fathead."

He sighed, scratching the back of his head. "I couldn't forgive myself, since I was afraid what other people would think. Even now I'm still worried. It was also because I miss Chip so much that it added to my sadness. But you know..."

The blue hedgehog smiled softly. "I'm not alone, 'cause I got my friends who understand more than even I did. Even friends I'll never see again, everybody's always with me, even when we're far apart on the outside. Not only that, I never realized it completely, or that I'd forgotten about it."

"_**YOUR FRIENDS ARE WORTH NOTHING. YOU LIKE TO BE ALONE, YOU TRAVEL ALONE. YOU TAKE PLEASURE IN BEING ALONE.**_" The Werehog snarled darkly, leaning closer so that it's shadow covered Sonic who glared back.

"Maybe you're right about the being alone part, but you're wrong about my friends. Just like my freedom, my love to run, and my home, they mean everything to me. I love them with all my heart. We're family. Even when the world was split apart, and I was so devastated by it, and even when Chip, Sun and I worked hard to restore it back to the way it was, it only made me love Mobius and everybody even more." The blue hedgehog explained.

"_**WHAT? WHY DO YOU SAY THAT?**_" His enemy growled, becoming increasingly angry.

"Because seeing the world, places I've never been to, and putting it back together, and seeing it restored to normal made me understand just how important it truly is. It's our home, and no one should take it for granted." Sonic answered. "Life isn't easy, but it's the greatest treasure we know. The greatest gift life itself had given to all of us. I made it my responsibility to always protect it, and to restore it should anything horrible happen, like two months ago or whatever else that could happen."

Sonic closed his eyes for a moment. "I never understood why you suddenly showed up again even after Sun destroyed you. Why I was hallucinating and why you came to me whenever I felt the guilt. After awhile though, I began to realize that my guilt for being unable to stop Eggman back then made you stronger, like your real-self became. But now I really understand why."

He stared hard at his enemy with a glare, his eyes glowing with life. "It's because you come from me! You're just tiny traces of my quills, along with my emotions and my tears, my guilt, fears and sorrow, and my anger, along with the darkness from Dark Gaia, and the Chaos Emeralds, all created by Eggman's machine! Now you're just my bottled up feelings and guilt that broke when I saw him again."

"_**WHAT!?**_" The Werehog exclaimed in shock, recoiling back slightly as though he had been caught by this discovery, which made Sonic smirk confidently. Finally he was giving this thing a taste of it's own medicine.

"I've been running away from myself, and you showing up just made it worse. But I won't run from my sins anymore. I'm gonna face it, because I atoned for what happened, accepted that while I was a part of it, it was mainly because it was half of that fat loser's plan to get back to me, the other in his usual scheme to take over the planet. I'm gonna stop him, like I always do!" He declared bravely.

The young hero then stood into a fighting position as he no longer felt like running off or escaping from his fears. "To do that, I'm going to fight against my sins, and that's what you are! C'mon, you overgrown dog! Let's finish this! The two month conflict is about to end!"

"_**YOU FOOL! I AM THE SUPREME BEING! I WILL DEVOUR YOU! I WILL SWALLOW YOU WHOLE, WHERE YOU WILL FOREVER BE MY MEAL FOR MY STOMACH, **_**SONIC THE HEDGEHOG!**" The Werehog bellowed, roaring loudly which echoed through out the area and even rocked the ground which nearly made Sonic lose his balance as he yelped while trying not to fall.

When the quakes stopped, pitch black lightning strikes struck the sky which turned to a blood red and the Werehog began to glow in dark aura which made Sonic sweat-drop, before he shook his head and stood his ground with a glare and grunted. The giant monster struck first by growling again and stretched out both arms to try and catch him, but the blue hedgehog sped forward, avoiding in being captured and kept on running. The Werehog hissed before rapidly diving it's head down with it's jaws wide, saliva flying almost everywhere to engulf the teenager.

Sonic zig-zagged out of the way to his right and narrowly avoided in being gobbled whole while the massive mouth closed with nothing but dirt and air which irritated his opponent even more. Even as he wondered where Chip was, the blue hedgehog focused on the battle and decided that the manifestation of his forgiveness, strength and courage, even love and kindness, and optimistic personality that took form of his friend was inside him, cheering him on. He thought of his friends cheering him on and even thought for a moment that he could hear them, which made him smile and feel greatly warmed and touched.

The hero of Mobius then leaped onto the Werehog's left arm stood there, holding on by clasping a piece of it's fur while the monster glared at him.

"Right here, Mutant-Rug! Come and get me!" Sonic taunted, waiting. His opponent snarled before reaching out with it's mouth again to take a bite. This was exactly what he waited for, because he dashed up quickly and once again avoided in being eaten.

The Werehog in the meantime made the mistake in missing and bite it's own arm so hard that it's teeth sank into the skin, causing it to rear it's head back while roaring in pain before covering it's wound that began to bleed with black blood and mist of darkness with it's right hand. As for the blue hedgehog, he wasted no time in jumping up to it's shoulder before homing attacked the side of it's head, his sharped quills slicing through it's tough skin and forcing it to roar in agony even more, while he stopped before jumping off and landed safely on the ground in a crouch in a safe distance.

"Hehehe! You're suppose to be eating your food, not yourself." Sonic teased with a chuckle as he stood up and watched his opponent attempt to recover while howling in pain for the injuries it substained. "Aw, what's the matter, big guy? Ya' got a boo-boo or somethin'?"

"_**YOU LITTLE BRAT!**_" The Werehog shouted darkly as it turned to glare furiously at the hedgehog who flinched, but remembered that this was all in his heart and head, and that he was in full control of the situation as long as he knew what to do.

"You're starting to sound like Eggman when he has a tantrum." He deadpanned.

"_**YOU CANNOT HOPE TO WIN THIS, LITTLE HEDGEHOG!**_" The beast bellowed, as more lightning flashed in the sky and thunder roared all around them. "_**YOUR FATE IS TO BE DEVOURED BY ME!**_"

"I wouldn't count on that!" Sonic retorted, his fear slowly increasing but he fought against it, knowing that if he let it make him run away, that would only make the Werehog stronger. He then dashed forward to attack again, and when the monster picked up a boulder before tossing it at him along with other pieces of rock, the blue hedgehog dodged them with ease and jumped when it's hands stretched out to try and get a grip on him.

He used the tossed large rocks to his advantage even as the monster surprisingly grew spikes on it's arms before they shot out right at him. Sonic dodged some while punching and kicking others in his natural speed, even sending some back flying back to their owner. But he was shocked when they were absorbed back into it's skin and it grinned evilly, chuckling by it's own unique power. Then he remembered that the real one did the same thing.

"I forgot that the real big guy did that the last time me and Sun went up against him." The blue hedgehog muttered sheepishly. He then frowned with seriousness. "But it won't stop me!"

As Sonic jumped and spin dashed in midair, he homing attacked straight at the Werehog's chest just as it made to catch him again both with it's hands and it's mouth. But he was faster and managed to strike right in the middle which forced the monster to stumble back. The blue hedgehog then kicked and punched in the same spot before using his speed to run up as he used parts of it's fur to help him up without falling over. He made it up to it's shoulder and gave it's face a good hard karate-kick with a yell near it's jaw.

"_**RRRRAAAAGGGGGHHHH!**_" The Werehog roared in agony and fury which nearly busted his eardrums, but Sonic forced himself to ignore it and jumped down once more while it was busy. But before he could reach the ground, the monster hissed as it then whacked him hard, hitting him on the back and causing the blue hedgehog to be sent flying forward, screaming.

Sonic hit the ground twice before crashing on his side, grunting in pain. He forced himself to push to stand, and turned quickly to glare at his enemy who rubbed it's sore jaw before grinning, it's mouth watering as it's stomach then growled loudly which, to the blue hedgehog, sounded like another monster's growl.

"Sorry, fuzzy! But you won't be eating this hedgehog for lunch!" The teenage hero exclaimed, standing up and ignoring his own injuries. He then jumped back as the Werehog narrowly missed in grabbing him, digging it's claws into the ground before it ran forward after him, causing the ground to quake as it did.

The blue hedgehog kept his balance before he somersaulted once, and then jumped to the side. As he did, he punched and kicked at the giant hands and ran up on it's arm once more quickly. The Werehog snarled as it made to shake him off, but Sonic, remembering his and Sun's fight against the giant gorilla that was a possessed Rajah the Monkey, held on and went faster. He then had an idea and avoided in being chomped by the monster who snapped it's jaws at him, and to it's surprise he landed right onto it's nuzzle just in front of it's nose and looked at it between the blood red eyes.

"Hey, just a piece of an advice; better get your eyes checked. I think there's something in them!" Sonic taunted, and before the Werehog could respond, he curled up tightly and spin dashed right between the eyes before hitting both red eyes like he did to Dark Gaia's eyes, though since the giant monster wasn't even half as big as the embodiment of darkness, it was still a pretty good 85 feet tall. Though it's eyes were the same size as him, so he managed to give a powerful and super fast strike in one hit each.

The Werehog roared in pure agony before Sonic gave it a final kick, using much of his strength to push it back. It seemed to be it's weakest spot because as the blue hedgehog leaped away to safety, the monster gave an agonized dying moan before collapsing onto it's back, sending a huge cloud of dust flying everywhere. The young Mobian in the meantime landed safely on his feet and waited anxiously for his opponent to rise. Silence followed as the dust cleared, revealing the beast lying on the ground, not even breathing.

After waiting for a few more moments just in case, Sonic beamed a relieved and victorious smile for having defeated his guilt, fears and sorrow manifested as the monster from his memories, believing that he has forgiven himself.

"YES! I did it!" The heroic hedgehog cheered, punching the air with his fist. He then smirked and taunted the defeated monster. "See? I knew I can overcome you. Tough luck, fuzzy."

He turned around and continued as he folded his arms with a smug smile. "If I can overcome being possesed by those world rings and use those powers to defeat Erazor Djinn and return to normal without giving into darkness, I can do anything. All it took was believing in my friends and in myself. Time for me to wake up and keep on saving the rest of the alie-"

Unfortunately, a deep, even more darker growl made him stop in mid-speech, and as Sonic froze, there was a sudden, freezing antarctic chill that filled the air and covered him like he was standing in the icy cold regions. Suddenly feeling a complete dread, the area around him only getting worse instead of better, the blue hedgehog realized that his victory was short-lived and he had spoken too soon. Slowly turning around and fearing for the worst, he gasped in absolute horror as the Werehog was covered in darkness, growing in size, and even changing in appearance.

The sudden burst of dark winds as the Werehog roared was so strong that Sonic struggled to stand against it while shielding himself, and was then blown away across the field, and it was much more painful that it felt like it hit him right in the heart.

"AAAAAHHHHHH!" He screamed before hitting the ground hard on his back and went sliding on the dirt before skidding to a stop. "Ow!"

Groaning, the blue hedgehog pushed himself up, and froze in horror, fear gripping him as he sat there, because in front of him as the darkness faded, the Werehog had gone through a change that was all too familiar to him, like as though it was a Wisp transforming while having had it's Hyper-Go-On power drained away completely.

The Werehog not only grew in size, being now half the height of Dark Gaia, still smaller but still much bigger, standing now to at least 150 feet, it's claws were a bit longer, it's dark fur had purple and white streaks run along it's arms and body, his eyes changed from pure blood red to pure white. It's own quills were longer, stopping right at it's ankles. The spiked shoes were gone, revealing clawed feet like a Werewolf's.

Memories flashing right before his eyes, Sonic knew in that instant that the Werehog had somehow merged with those dark memories of his Arabian adventure, back when he had become Dark Spine Sonic. Because now, the Werehog had transformed into Dark-Spine-Werehog.

"...I really oughta know when to keep my mouth shut." Sonic muttered shakily, breaking the fourth wall by gazing at the viewers/readers with a scared look and a sweat-drop. "The Werehog and me being Dark Spine Sonic alone are bad enough. But the two together? This might not end well."

The Dark-Spine-Werehog took a moment to observe itself before grinning just as monstrous as before, and turned it's gaze to the blue hedgehog who, feeling his confidence and bravery all but gone in an instant and replaced with paralyzing fear, quivered in fear and when it began approaching him step by step, the ground quaking even more violently than ever, he tried to scoot away by crawling backwards, whimpering as it loomed over him.

"Okay...M-maybe now wasn't a great time to-to face my inner conflict...!" The blue hedgehog stuttered in fear, gulping nervously. "I-I should've waited u-until I beaten E-E-Eggman...!"

The Dark-Spine-Werehog just chuckled, it's voice just as deep, monstrous and evil as before. "_**I TOLD YOU, LITTLE HEDGEHOG. THERE IS NO HOPE FOR YOU TO WIN THIS. NOW YOU HAVE MADE ME STRONGER!**_"

"Yeah, I noticed the stronger part. I shouldn't have even thought about the time when I became Dark Spine Sonic." Sonic admitted, shaking violently. "L-Look. Let's ju-just say tha-that this was a warm up and-and that I c-come back later f-for t-the real-for the real fight. I'm gonna go back to reality now."

"_**YOU ARE NOT GOING ANYWHERE, MY PREY!**_" The Dark-Spine-Werehog bellowed, and reached down it's right hand towards the blue hedgehog who gasped again as he tried to get further away, every inch of his body screaming at him to both run and wake up. But somehow it refused to listen, and he was stuck glued to the ground.

"No! NO!" The teenage hedgehog screamed in fear. Too late, the giant monster clasped him tightly around the lower part of his body and lifted him up. He screamed louder, and then tried to pull himself free, but the grip was too tight and too strong, just like the fear, and soon his guilt and sorrow were gripping him, just as tightly as ever.

He got a short lucky break when the Dark-Spine-Werehog held him at it's chest level, while it laughed victoriously for having finally captured it's prey. "_**YOU BELONG TO ME NOW, MY LITTLE TREAT. SOON YOUR BODY WILL BE OVERCOME WITH GRIEF AND GUILT, AND YOUR SOUL AND HEART WILL BE LOST.**_"

"Let me go!" Sonic cried out, struggling to free himself as the sky turned to almost pitch black with dark clouds, more lightning strikes flashed. He was soon overcome by fear and pleaded. "Please! Don't eat me!"

"_**MMMMMM...DELICIOUS, JUICY FEAR OF A HEDGEHOG. NICE AND SOFT LIKE A MARSHMALLOW, SWEET AS AN APPLE.**_" The Dark-Spine-Werehog groaned in pure delight as it began to slowly draw the frightened blue hedgehog closer and closer to it's face.

"NOOOOOOOOOOO!" He screamed, squeezing his eyes shut, before knocking himself on the head, unable to take this anymore. This was a battle he was not yet ready for, and now it was even worse. Sonic knew that he was going to be seeing this form of the Werehog for a long time to time. "Sonic, wake up! Get outta here! WAKE UP!"

But like a nightmare, he was trapped within himself. Much like how the Nega-Wisps had gone through, except there was no one to come to his aid unless Tails, Shadow and Omega find him and get him to snap out of it. At this stage, it was his only hope left. Either way, he knew then that he lost. He couldn't defeat the guilt, fear and sorrow. The blue hedgehog's heart ached and he didn't want to accept this reality.

Breaking down into tears, Sonic cried as he covered his face with his gloved hands, as he thought to himself. '_Tails, Knuckles, Amy, Cream, Shadow, Yacker...Chip. I-I'm sorry. I-I can't do it. I can't do this...! I'm so sorry...that I let you guys down._'

"_Sonic! Don't give up! It's going to be okay!_"

"Huh?" Sonic muttered tearfully, looking up while lowering his hands, and to his relief and the giant monster's sheer anger, was Chip who was glowing brightly in green light.

Seeing the manifestation of his friend who was everything he felt against this fight until now, he pleadingly reached out for him. "Chip! Chip, help me! HELP ME! I'm really scared! I tried, but I can't do this! Wake me up, please!"

"_Sonic, you have to listen!_" Chip told him urgently, looking very worried but determined. "_You did a great job, but you still have to prove yourself by facing your fears, and not just on the outside of the battle!_"

"But how?" The blue hedgehog tearfully asked, desperately. "If I don't-If I don't wake up now, I'll be eaten! I won't be able to cope! Buddy, please!"

"_I know this will sound crazy and you're gonna hate it, but you have to be-_" The pixie was cut off before he could continue, as the Dark-Spine-Werehog suddenly clasped him with it's left hand, becoming trapped within before it drew the captured Light Gaia towards it's face, much to Sonic's horror.

"CHIP!" Sonic screamed out.

"_**I'VE HAD IT WITH YOU, FORGIVENESS! MUST YOU ALWAYS INTERFERE!? NO ONE WILL STOP ME FROM CONSUMING SONIC!**_" The monster roared furiously.

"No, please!" Sonic reached out in desperation. "Let him go! It's me you want!"

The Dark-Spine-Werehog ignored him, as it grinned evilly before it dropped Chip into it's mouth, gobbling him whole and slamming it's mouth shut right before the blue hedgehog's eyes, and to his devastation...it swallowed his friend whole.

"_CHIP! NOOOOOOO!_" The teenage hedgehog screamed, then resumed his crying. It was all over. First he lost the real Chip who wouldn't wake up for another millions of years, now he lost the manifestation of his friend who had taken the form of his forgiveness, his courage, his confidence, his encouragement, and his support.

"_**BWAHAHAHAHAHA! AH HA HA HA HA! NOW, FOR MY COURSE.**_" The Dark-Spine-Werehog bellowed in pure evil laughter, gazing down at the helpless and sobbing hedgehog in it's grasp.

Sonic continued to cry, feeling so lost and scared. So alone and frightened. He failed. He didn't know what to do anymore. But as he thought that he was doomed to be consumed by the horrors that happened, suddenly he could hear everything from his memories; everything his friends told him in the last nearly two days.

_"You are not the cause for what's happened two months ago, Sonic. You're not the cause of what's happening now. You just got caught in the wrong place at the wrong time back then, but you managed to still save the world like you always do. I'm your friend, Sonic. I'd...never forgive myself if anything happened to you."_ Came Knuckles' voice.

Then came Tails'.

_"Sonic, it wasn't your fault. You know that Eggman likes to mess with everybody's heads, and I think we can both agree that what he's trying to do now is messing with our heads to the next level. You know that I've always got your back."_

Then came Amy's.

_"It's not your fault. You're just taking the blame over something that Eggman has done. What you did was only because Eggman had planned it for months without everybody knowing, and you had been caught off-guard. You didn't do anything wrong at all. Like how none of us knew about this place either, and I won't let you blame yourself for that creep's evil schemes, Sonic the Hedgehog."_

He even remembered what Tails, Amy and Cream told him back at Aquarium Park.

_"What makes you think we wouldn't want to do the same thing you've always done for us?" Amy asked, smiling._

_"We wanna be there for you and cheer you up too, Mr. Sonic. We're your friends." Cream added kindly and sweetly._

_"Chao, Chao, Chao!" Cheese added with a nod._

_"Yeah. I told you before, big bro. __You should let us comfort you once and while." Tails added._

Finally, and while it wasn't supportive, Shadow's words were still supporting because he was the one who had made Sonic come to this mental fight in the first place.

_"__I ended the inner conflicted by heeding Maria's advice, because she was my support. The two have manifested by my emotions by thinking of the life I have now, that I am in control of my own destiny and mind. Like a dream or a nightmare that are mine alone."_

The more the voices of his friends echoed in his mind, racing through his heart, the more Sonic stopped crying, even as he was dangerously close in being eaten. It was then that he realized what Chip was trying to tell him, or what he was about to tell him before being interrupted.

To face this, he had to face his final greatest fear that wasn't water; it was being eaten by the Werehog and stop him from there...and now the manifestion of his friend was trapped inside the monster's stomach. Everything that's happening to him...he was just letting his guilt, fears and sorrow take over, because he hadn't been forgiving himself, or getting over his fears.

Plus, he had faced it up front; the Whale swallowed him, and even though it was to help him twice because it let him go, it was still enough to make him realize that he had to face it. That's when he remembered, he did face the fear of being swallowed; Sonic had bravely entered Perfect Chaos' mouth during their battle, and it was made out of water. Yes, he had been Super Sonic at the time, but it was pretty close and he survived and saved the world.

"NO!" Sonic shouted, his fears, guilt and sorrow shoved aside with determination. He then focused on freeing himself by pushing the fingers open with all of his inner strength. "I won't...let it end...this way!"

"_**ENOUGH OF THIS FOOLISHNESS. YOU CANNOT WIN, SONIC.**_" The Dark-Spine-Werehog sneered as it drew it's prey closer and closer, laughing evilly.

"Oh yeah!? Just watch me!" The blue hedgehog exclaimed, his more normal-self returning with full vengeance, straining himself. Despite that he was getting closer and closer, he forced himself to face it by going in himself, and now the way he was trapped in.

Just as he was halfway towards the jawed mouth and straining himself with sweat, Sonic finally felt movement from the fingers, the grip loosening. His arms were shaking, but he was ignoring it, and pretended that this was like facing Eggman's giant robots. This seemed to work because even as the monster closed it's other hand around it's right, the blue hedgehog pushed the fingers away at long last. Now free, he hopped out of the opened hand and ran up along the arm, while his opponent continued to laugh manically.

"You must be starving, because HERE I COME!" Sonic exclaimed, jumping up and doing into a spin dash, zooming right into the Dark-Spine-Werehog's mouth. No sooner was he inside and let himself fall right into the throat and down, the giant monster slammed it's mouth shut and even though it choked a bit with the blue hedgehog having thrown himself right inside, it swallowed him with ease and moaned in pure delight.

The Dark-Spine-Werehog smiled evilly, licking it's fingers to take in the pleasure of the taste of the teenager her had swallowed up, and while it didn't get the chance to actually taste him, it was still sastisfied. Then it laughed in victory. "_**AT LAST. YOU ARE MINE, SONIC THE HEDGEHOG. HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!**_"

"Don't think you've won, fuzzy!" Sonic's voice echoed from within, causing it to stop and glance at it's stomach while it felt the blue hedgehog fall right down towards it's stomach.

Sonic, while frightened at this crazy idea, let himself fall as he focused on getting Chip out, knowing that he still had control over this. He glanced up with a smirk despite that the Dark-Spine-Werehog couldn't see him. "This isn't real, and what's happened to me is all in my head, and in my heart. But I'm not scared of you anymore. I told you; you're just a manifestion of all of my feelings of hurt I've kept bottled up inside me for way too long. I can't forget it, but I won't let it consume me."

"_**YOU STILL BELIEVE THAT? YOU ARE DOOMED! YOU HAVE LOST! DROWN IN YOUR DARK SINS! LET IT CONSUME YOU!**_" The monster bellowed from outside.

"Hate to disappoint you, pal, but you're just all in my head. My memories mixed up with my feelings. I was afraid of you, because I was afraid of becoming a monster myself. You could stay that I was running away from myself, not giving myself a chance to earn one last forgiveness. I'm getting my friend and myself outta here, and I'm gonna keep on freeing the aliens from Eggman's slimy, rotten egg hands!" Sonic told it calmly, completely unfazed by what is happening.

"_**YOU ARE FALLING TOWARDS MY STOMACH, MY LITTLE PREY! NO ONE CAN ESCAPE DIGESTION!**_"

The blue hedgehog just chuckled as he got closer. "Maybe not in reality, unless it's like the story of Pinocchio. If he and his Dad got out of a giant whale, then I can get myself outta here, because this is my imagination! My heart and my mind! This is my dream, and I'm the one in control with who I am! You wanna know why?"

"_**SPARE ME YOUR BRAVEDO, SONIC. YOUR BODY IS MINE!**_" The Dark-Spine-Werehog shouted.

"Ha! Nice try, but it'll take more than my fears to make me possessed!" Sonic laughed, and as he got closer and closer, the more and more he felt the guilt of what has happened to him continue to slip away from his heart.

Finally, he found himself falling into the stomach, but Sonic paid no mind to that. Instead, the more he thought about his friends, his home, and everything he can still do, the less the scary thought consumed him. In fact, as he reached it, the stomach vanished and turned into a pure white chamber, and there floating unconsciously was Chip, who, sensing his presence, slowly opened his eyes as he saw the blue hedgehog reach out to him.

"Chip!" Sonic cried out, his arms stretched out to save his friend.

"..._Sonic!_" Chip cried back, instantly awakening.

The moment the blue hedgehog reached him, the two embraced with the young hero hugging the manifestion of his very dear friend tightly in his arms and chest, and the two floated in the light. While this wasn't the real reunion, Sonic still wanted to cherish it, because to him it felt real. At long last he felt the last of his guilt's grip release his heart, and accepted that the time has come to move on.

"Don't worry, buddy. I gotcha." He whispered.

"_I knew you could do it._" The manifestion of his friend whispered, snuggling into the blue hedgehog's chest.

"Yeah. But it's not over yet." Sonic pointed out, the two sharing an emotional glance with smiles, which his own turned into determination and renewed confidence. "Let's get outta here! I'll take us through."

As Chip nodded, Sonic then looked up and focused with all of his will-power to make the light vanish, as an opening to the outside appeared. The blue hedgehog and the pixie then flew out, which what he did made a hole in the now shocked and horrified Dark-Spine-Werehog's stomach. The monster, suddenly feeling all control gone and frozen in place, gasped in pain and fear as the duo flew right out and landed on the ground safely.

The moment Sonic's feet touched it, the scenery changed as well. The ground grew fresh green grass, the trees flourshed with leaves that blew gently in the wind, the lava in the lakes and lavafalls transformed into pure crystal clear blue water, the ground was magically restored fully and uncracked and the abyss all closed up, the mountains restored with snow on top, and the dark storm ending, the sky turning from dark into just as blue as the hedgehog, with white, fluffy clouds floating gently, and the sun shining warmly and brightly.

A perfect scene for a lover of nature, because it was solely loved in his heart.

"_**WHAT!? HOW CAN THIS BE!? THIS IS IMPOSSIBLE!**_" The Dark-Spine-Werehog exclaimed, only to grunt and hiss in pain, bending over in agony. When it looked at it's hands, much to it's horror, it was vanishing into a dust of darkness, being erased from existence. "_**NO! NO! I CANNOT...VANISH! WHY!? HOW COULD YOU DO THIS!?**_"

"One; because you never existed inside me in the first place. The real you died out and returned to where it belonged." Sonic explained calmly as he stood there with Chip now floating beside him. "You and Sun both came from me, and yeah, while you two guys formed as your own beings, parts of your bodies were still connected and now Sun's body belongs to him, while you died along with Dark Gaia taking his next million year nap."

The blue hedgehog then smirked and smiled warmly. "Secondly; Everybody's forgiven me for not stopping Eggman from splitting the world apart. Except for one person that I didn't count on."

"_**WHO IS IT?**_" The Dark-Spine-Werehog demanded, as fear crept up on it's face while it's body rapidly vanished, leaving only it's shoulders and soon head left.

Sonic's smirk as he continued. "One who didn't allow the chance until now."

He waited until the head was soon almost gone, before he answered the one word that he now knew it feared the most, one that he feared the most.

"Me. Now, I'm going to forgive myself for what's happened; I'll move on, and keep on doing the right thing for the rest of my life. Keep moving forward and don't ever look back!" Sonic declared, and as the Werehog gasped in pure horror, he and Chip casually waved a goodbye at it. "Don't forget to write!"

"_**NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!**_" The Dark-Spine-Werehog screamed as it finally surcummbed to Sonic's self-forgiveness, and vanished into dust which faded completely, except for a few particles that drifted into the blue hedgehog's chest. At first the teenager flinched in a bit of fright, before relaxing as he then knew what this meant.

"Well...that's that." He muttered, placing a hand to his chest calmly.

"_You did it, Sonic. You finally found it within yourself to forgive yourself, and face your fears inside your heart._" Chip said happily and warmly, hovering closer to the blue hedgehog.

"Thanks to you and everybody else, buddy." Sonic shrugged, turning to face him. "Well, not the real you, but you know what I mean. You're everything I've known all along, and while it doesn't always work, it's part of who I am. You just took form of Chip because he's someone very special to me, and while I'll never see him again in reality, I can always see him in my memories, and in my heart."

"_You seem to be calm with some of your sins flowed back into you._" The pixie remarked.

"Because it's also part of me. Like Light and Darkness, one can't have guilt or feel bad if they only cared about themselves. Unless your name's Eggman." The blue hedgehog explained. "It'll never fully go away, but what happened wasn't because I did it solely on my own. It's because I love life; I love Mobius and all of my friends so much, and if anything happened to them, like two months ago, I'd blame myself for not protecting them."

Sonic then looked up with determination as he declared. "But that doesn't mean I didn't have a chance to make things right, or fix up the mess. It's only when I die before I can is when I'll be consumed by guilt and sorrow. I'll make sure that it'll never happen. When I one day die, it'll be because I know that the world and everybody I love are safe and free. Same goes for the rest of the universe, which I still gotta save."

"_Then you know what you must do, Sonic._" Chip nodded.

"Yep!" The blue hedgehog smirked, holding up a fist. "I'm gonna save the rest of the aliens and free Asteroid Coaster from Egghead's Park! Everybody's waiting for me."

He then held a sad expression as he lowered his hand, but he smiled all the same. "So...guess you gotta disappear and go back inside me too, right?"

The manifestation of his friend nodded, as he began glowing in green light, and began vanishing himself. "_My work is done. I was created to help you be yourself. This whole area of life and nature represent your heart, and your love for nature. I took the form of Chip to be your support, knowing that while you can't see each other anymore..._"

"I know...We're still part of each other." Sonic sniffled, tears silently falling. "At least...at least I...got to see a version of Chip through you...But I'm never alone...I'll always miss you, but I'll never forget you. I love you, Chip."

"_And Chip loves you too, Sonic. As his dear friend...and brother._" Chip echoed as he almost disappeared entirely.

"Along with Tails and Sun." The blue hedgehog finished, sad that he couldn't hug him goodbye, but their embrace was still close enough. "Sayonara, Light Gaia."

"_Goodbye, Sonic._" Chip croaked, silent tears falling from his eyes which he closed, as he soon disappeared completely into particles of green light, which gently flowed into Sonic's chest as well.

Sonic placed a hand to his chest with a smile, his eyes closed as the last of his tears shed while everything around him brightened up, engulfing him with warm light.

* * *

The moment the light faded from his vision, Sonic soon heard the sound of metal fill his ears, and felt the solid metal floor underneath him, rock behind his back as he regained consciousness. The blue hedgehog groaned softly as he slowly blinked his eyes open, and when he did, the sight of the corridor of the world he was in came into vision. Snapping himself awake, he glanced around and found that he was back in reality; back in Asteroid Coaster where he'd zoned off for his inner battle.

The moment he discovered this, and felt mentally exhausted but at the same time, much better than he felt yesterday, he sighed while leaning back, slumping against the wall with a smile.

"Whoa...That sure took it out of me." Sonic muttered to himself. Then he placed a hand to his chest, and smiled. "But hey, I did it. I finally found it within me to forgive myself. Thanks to everybody."

The blue hedgehog closed his eyes with content, whispering. "Guys...Thank you. I'll never let doubt, guilt and fears hit me again unless I really can't save the world. But that won't happen, because I'll always beat Eggman, and I'll always save the world, no matter what. But this journey isn't over yet."

Opening his eyes again and his smile replaced with firm detemination, Sonic stood up, now finally feeling like his true self again even though he was still worried about the aliens. He still has a chance to set things right from here on out.

"Don't worry, little guys! I'll save you! I'll turn those of you who have lost your Hyper-Go-Ons back to normal! Everything will be okay! I promise!" He declared. "Now, time to find that generator!"

Smirking to himself as he was now fully looking forward for his next big challenge and excited to kick another giant killer robot's butt, Sonic sped off to continue his quest, and while he knew whatever he would face next wasn't going to be pleasent, the blue hedgehog wasn't going to let that horror stop him.

He will keep going until the end of this adventure.

* * *

**A/N: A super long chapter with a fight I've been wanting to write for ages, and now we're one step closer in finishing off Asteroid Coaster. Might be the end of the next chapter, and then it's onward to the final battles and the ending of this story.**

**See you later!**


	16. Chapter 16: The Last Generator

**Author's Note: This is it! The last chapter of the Asteroid Coaster, and another step closer to the ultimate ending of this story!**

**To gregorian 12: Thanks for understanding and I'm sorry if I sound like I'm annoyed which I'm not, really. I still hope that you liked the last chapter, and I hope you'll like this one as well.**

**To TurquoiseTriangle: It's okay, no biggie. I'm really glad you like it. It wasn't easy and we're still a bit of a fair bit to go, but yeah we're coming up to the ending. And I'll consider that suggestion, thanks. As for Sonic's hallucinations, you could say it's a bit of a mixture of both PTSD and guilt, but mainly the latter.**

**Anyway, let's get to it!**

**I do not own Sonic The Hedgehog. All rights belong to Sega.**

* * *

_Chapter 16: The Last Generator._

"Man, this place is scarier than I thought." Tails remarked as he ventured around, his Miles Electronic Device in hand and, having a couple of conversations with Wisps that, given what they had told him, had been drained from their Hyper-Go-Ons before being saved and restored by Sonic who freed their powers earlier somewhere, he was even more worried about the aliens.

When he first found that, the two-tailed fox had been absolutely horrified, and sympathized deeply with the aliens that had gone through such a cruel fate. The eight year old kit just couldn't believe just how far Eggman had gotten to that point and hoped that his best friend/big brother would be able to save the rest of the Wisps and shut down the generator.

"Those poor Wisps..." He muttered, his heart aching for them. "Why does Eggman have to be so cruel?"

'_Sonic's right. Eggman really won't change. I'm never gonna trust anything that horrible man says ever again._' Tails thought to himself while pausing as he glanced around to find Sonic since he had so much to tell him right away, especially with the more info he gathered that he knew that the cobalt hedgehog wouldn't be able to understand without the translator.

"_**Would the owner of a yellow car, license plate 1NOM155, please report to the front gate? Your vehicle is in the path of an asteroid and it's about to get smashed...Oh...Er, never mind.**_" Eggman's recording over the intercom echoed, which hearing this made the two-tailed fox pause in his steps and sweat-dropped.

"Not only he's cruel, but he's also the worst organizer in the universe." Tails murmured to himself. "For safety reasons at least. He plans very well for his evil schemes, but he's done so many that he's very predictable by now. I'm surprised he hasn't caused an accident on himself yet."

While he was talking to himself, the young Mobian failed to detect movement coming from behin him until he heard heavy metal which made him flinch and hunch up the same way he saw Sonic do when he'd caught the hedgehog talk to the destroyed robot he'd beaten, only it was his tails that were sticking up, freezing in place and every inch of his body suddenly refusing to listen to him. Then, mentally chastising himself despite being scared, Tails forced himself to fight back his fear and spun around to face his enemy.

Only to blink in surprise when he saw that, while it was one of Eggman's robots and one that he recognized, it was unlike any other and was actually a friend.

"**Analyzing individual: Miles Prower, otherwise known as Tails by many. Ally detected.**" Said Omega who had finally found one of Sonic's friend.

"Omega?" The eight year old fox softly exclaimed, before sighing with relief while placing a hand to his chest. "You almost gave me half of a heart attack."

"**Apologies. I was sent by Comrade Shadow to find you or any of Sonic's friends.**" Omega replied, which surprised Tails.

"Shadow's here too? Wait, have you seen Sonic?" He asked.

"**Correct. Yet Sonic does not know we are here. Shadow followed him. We are investigating the kidnapping of these alien species, which I cannot analyse. They are new to my data.**"

Tails knew what Omega was talking about, and nodded. "So Shadow's been saving the Wisps too. That's the name of these aliens Sonic's been rescuing from Eggman. When did you guys get here?"

"**At 8:24 AM today. Sweet Mountain was our first destination; which I cannot analyse the unhealthy amounts of sugar on a planet that is 100% made from it. Our arrival to Asteroid Coaster was 2 hours ago.**" The robot explained. "**I have however detected Dr. Eggman's secret hideout; continue along this path and it will you to a shortcut. No doubt Sonic will find it as well.**"

"I bet that's where he's turning these aliens into Nega-Wisps." Tails frowned deeply, holding out his translator while thinking about what the restored Wisps have told him. "See, I turned my device into a translator to help me and Sonic understand them better."

"From what Sonic has mentioned, I'd say you're better in explaining it more clearly."

Tails jumped in fright at the unexpected voice from his left and yelped when he and Omega saw that Shadow had just arrived silently.

"WAAH!" The eight year old Mobian yelped, before exclaiming as he once again tried to will his rapidly beating heart to calm down. "Shadow! Don't scare me like that!"

"What is it with everyone being jumpy with me today? What do I look like, a vampire?" The ultimate life form asked with an annoyed frown, his arms folded.

"S-Sorry. You just appeared out of nowhere." Tails nervously rubbed the back of his head. "I was just about to explain to Omega about the Wisps."

"By Wisps, you mean these aliens Sonic has been rescuing?" Shadow questioned, "I ran into him and he gave me a vague explanation of them and their so called Hyper-Go-On power which he has been fusing with along with them."

Tails blinked in confusion, though before he could ask why Sonic had been vague, the black hedgehog beat him to it. "It's best explained by him later, and I'm sure you'll understand since you're much more closer to him. Besides, he was distracted slightly by something else."

While the two-tailed fox suddenly realized what Shadow meant and felt his heart drop to the pit of his stomach with worry and dismay, he decided not to press it and just nodded. Tails then went on to explain everything to him and Omega on what was happening in the last two days, including what he found out a short time ago before the robot arrived.

"Typical." Shadow grunted after Tails finished explaining. "Using stolen energy to mind-control everyone. It's the case of Black Doom in reverse."

"**Affirmative. Dr. Eggman has become worse. He must be annihilated.**" Omega agreed, and if the youngest of the group didn't know any better, he sounded disgusted and furious, for a robot.

"I think he has gotten worse." The eight year old muttered, before asking as he realized what Omega had said moments ago. "Hey, you went to Sweet Mountain early this morning, right?"

Shadow rolled his eyes, "Yes, we have and before you ask because Sonic asked me the same question, no the giant pie factory is not the so called "Back Me Crazy" attraction. Though I can't help but wonder. He mentioned something about Eggman being a people eater. Care to explain that?"

That made Tails sigh in relief, placing a hand to his chest once more. "Oh, phew...What a relief. One less thing to worry about."

"**I cannot detect the meaning of what you and Sonic the Hedgehog mean by that either.**" Omega remarked.

"Nothing to worry about. Just a scary thought when Sonic had a near baking accident yesterday." The young fox quickly said, shaking his hands. When Shadow and Omega shared a confused and suspicious glance, he continued. "Anyway, I think I should go find Sonic and tell him about the Nega-Wisps, especially since now we know what's really going on and the aliens' only hope is the last generator to be turned off and getting their Hyper-Go-Ons back."

"We will do what we can to help shut down the factory." The black hedgehog promised, then added with an annoyed grumble. "Though knowing Sonic, he'll be ahead of us like always."

Tails couldn't help but sweat-drop nervously at this. Given their history and while they were allies now, Shadow was somewhat jealous of Sonic due to the latter still being faster than him and always one step ahead at almost everything. The young fox resisted the urge to say as much since he was scared of what would happen to him. Though before he could say anything further, Omega suddenly detected movement and scanned up ahead, to which all three of them heard more robotic voices, most whom Shadow and Tails recognized, while another was...

Rowdy sounded?

"Wowie! That's one big robot that two-tailed fox and Sonic's with!"

The three of them turned to see that the voice belonged to Cubot who, along with Orbot who had finally caught up with him with an appearance of exhaustion, Becoe, Decoe and to Tails' dismay, Bokkun and the three of them also looking exhausted, all arrived and had spotted them.

"And even the hedgehog's changed in appearance too! What's with the new look, Sonic?" Cubot asked Shadow, not yet realizing that he was speaking with the wrong hedgehog. The other robots on the other hand knew better, and to the horror of Becoe, Decoe and Bokkun, they recognized Omega who wasn't thrilled to see them either. In fact, he was all but ready for destruction mode.

"You're talking to the wrong hedgehog, you idiot. My name is Shadow." Shadow replied darkly with a hard glare. "And who the heck are you? You must be one of the Doctor's latest, if not the stupidest creations."

"I think that's Cubot. Sonic met him twice at Tropical Resort and Planet Wisp." Tails guessed correctly, before remarking. "Though the last time he'd faced this guy, first he sounded like a cowboy and then he sounded like a pirate."

"And then he sounded all Italian, then a parrot since Orbot here is still trying to fix his voice chip." Becoe piped up.

"At least he's sounding more normal and serious." Decoe added.

"I don't know about that one, Decoe." Bokkun said sarcastically, before smirking when he saw Tails' dismayed expression. "So, Tails. What'd ya think of my Bucket O' Sushi cooking?"

The two-tailed fox shuddered and suddenly felt nauseous all over again as the memories of eating the horrid food resurfaced. He groaned, "Honestly? It was horrible. Especially since you and Eggman never knew until today that Sushi has fish, not everything else you put in."

"...Sushi has fish?" The smallest robot asked, blankly. Orbot, Decoe and Becoe all facepalmed themselves with groans, while Cubot looked just as confused.

"I knew Bokkun knew nothing about cooking." Orbot sighed in exasperation.

"HEY!" Bokkun protested, whining. "I'm a great cook! Sonic's friend here just has no taste!"

"I didn't know fish was in Sushi, but you'd think the boss would have known that and he's smarter than Sonic!" Cubot said stupidly, before turning back to Shadow and asked. "That reminds me, is that hedgehog your brother?"

"Hardly. We're not even related." Shadow replied, finding himself more and more irritated by the yellow-cubed robot's stupidity. "Now, I suggest you five pieces of garbage get out of my sight or else."

"Or else what?" Cubot challenged, which only made Decoe, Becoe and Bokkun flinch in fright as they turned their gaze not at Shadow, but at Omega who was preparing to fire lasers at them. In fact, their and even Orbot's fear grew when he turned his attention to the robot behind the two Mobians and said. "Come on, you must be one of the boss's creations, right? Aren't you supposed to be getting rid of Sonic and his friends?"

"I've never seen this robot before." Orbot stated nervously, turning to ask the other three robots who shivered in fear. "Who is this? Is this Dr. Eggman's creations?"

"Yeah, this is Omega. He was built to safe-guard Shadow and locked up in a room with him a long while back after he and Sonic saved the world from the ARK." Decoe explained, slowly backing away.

"That only caused him to rebel against him though, because he hated in being locked away, even when Shadow lost his memories after everybody thought he died." Becoe added.

Bokkun gulped nervously, knowing all too well of Omega's pure hatred towards his own creator. "Yeah, and since then, Omega's been working for G.U.N and has been one of Sonic's and Shadow's allies."

"Oh..." Was all Orbot said, before he and the other robots all screamed when Omega fired a laser at them, to which they narrowly dodged when they jumped in fear.

"**Terminating Eggman's robots! Destroy! Annhiliate! Oblierate!**" Omega shouted, firing again and again, causing the robots to jump and then scream before running away in fear with the larger robot chasing after them in a zig-zag pattern all over the place.

"YEOW! Hey, don't vaporize us! Vaporize them!" Cubot shouted in anger and fear.

"He's not gonna listen, Cubot! Once a robot rebels, there's no getting it back!" Becoe screamed hysterically.

"ESPECIALLY OMEGA!" Decoe added girlishly.

"**Targets must not escape! Destroy!**" The larger robot shouted, continuing to fire his lasers, while both Tails and Shadow watched the scene unravel before them. While the black hedgehog smirked in amusement, the two-tailed fox looked even more scared for a different reason.

"...I'm really glad Omega's our friend, but sometimes he really scares me." Tails whispered.

"Let him have his fun. Those idiotic robots deserve it anyway." Shadow told him, before asking with a raised eye-brow. "And since when was Bokkun the chef of this 'Bucket O' Sushi'?"

The young fox groaned, holding his stomach as the mere thought of it made him really want to be sick. "Like I said to Sonic, Eggman's cruelty knows no bounds."

"Hmm...for an evil scientist, he is pathetically stupid. It's embarrasing that he is Maria's cousin and Professor Gerald's grandson." The black hedgehog shook his head in exasperation, unable to believe that Eggman didn't even know anything about Sushi.

In the meantime, the duo turned their attention back to the comical scene that was unfolding, one robot chasing after five others who were screaming their heads off like babies.

This could take a while.

* * *

"CUBE!" Sonic shouted, as while getting closer to his destination, freed a blue Wisp and upon seeing a block in the road with blue blocks, burrowed it's power which thankfully was one of the aliens that didn't have it's Hyper-Go-On stolen yet.

Since his inner battle against his dark sins, the cobalt hedgehog was feeling much more determined and positive for the first time in two months, almost exactly like he had been before the Dark Gaia incident. He never felt any better, but at the same time didn't want to get ahead of himself. He focused on the more urgent matters while thinking about the end result of succeeding, of saving the Wisps and all of the Universe.

Once the blocks were gone, Sonic returned to normal while the Cube Wisp emerged. The two shared a high-five of success even though the blue hedgehog was still greatly fearing of what he would find up ahead that wasn't the generator. None the less, he nodded as his new-found friend happily nuzzled him on the cheek which made him chuckle before taking it's leave to safely return home.

"Thanks, pal! See ya!" Sonic waved, and once he was certain that it would be okay, he continued onward, running up the walls when the path he was on became virtical and soon found himself running upside down. It wasn't much of a problem because he put his mind onto completing his quest, because he didn't know how many more Wisps had lost their powers and turned either Frenzy-like or Void-like.

One thing's for certain, the young hero will set things right. He was so close that he could taste it.

Even as the path returned to normal level, Sonic found himself in another part of the factory, deeper even. As he did, the fifteen year old hedgehog ran onto the metal path and platforms and the deeper he went, the less secure he became. He stayed on his guard while taking out more robots. As he took them out, Sonic found that he was even faster than before, spin dashing into two, knocking down another with a high-kick before homing attacked the rest in a zig-zag pattern like a pinball, knocking them down with ease.

"Huh. Guess me not forgiving myself made me slow down a little. Talk about not cool." The blue hedgehog muttered to himself as he ran in his normal speed once more. Up until his ultimate inner battle against the Werehog and rescuing his forgiveness that had manifested as Chip, he thought that his speed hadn't been affect at all and it was only his heart. "Maybe my speed is part of my heart too."

Realizing what he said sounded corny, Sonic shrugged while shaking his head. "What am I sayin'? Running is part of me too and I love it! Makes me feel free wherever I go."

Upon mentioning freedom however, he frowned in great concern. Sonic was afraid that the Wisps were really losing their sense of free will and given everything he's learned, what he had witnessed and experienced only proved that Yacker's mother was right. The only way to fix it was to restore them of their powers, which had been doing in most cases as best as he could. When he couldn't find them, he hoped for the best and even managed to somehow get through to the Nega-Wisps who, instead of taking control, they let him do all the controlling which wasn't as long as they did.

Eventually the cobalt hedgehog found himself in a much more darker part of Eggman's secret base and skid to a stop, walking slowly while observing his new surroundings. The mixture of rock and metal made him feel even more uneasy. While Sonic was no longer feeling as terrible as he had about an hour ago, he still found this world just as dark and creepy to which he found himself gulping nervously.

It was too much like a laboratory, and he didn't like it one bit. In fact, while it was still a wide, opened area, it made him feel even more claustrophobic, but he tried to keep his cool.

"What is this place...?" Sonic whispered with narrowed brows, though his heart was beating rapidly and he attempted to will it to calm it. Though as he walked down the ramp, he came to a stop at the edge of the platform and what he saw made him gasp in absolute horror.

In front of him, both high above and below, were Wisps of many kinds, each and every one of them all trapped within the capsules, too far for him to reach and it made his blood run cold, his heart freezing up and aching in devastation. The aliens above were being carried via a vat towards a large, giant capsule-like machine, being drawn inside. The blue hedgehog could hear their cries of terror, fear, pleads and for help, which he really wanted to save, but was too far away to do so, and could only watch helplessly.

Sonic felt his heart then drop into his stomach as the aliens of all sides above were being placed into the giant capsule and forced himself not to look away as he knew that it was a repeated process, but he did try to block out their pained screams as he knew, because of the large stock of Wisps that were either purple or violet, they were being sucked dry of their Hyper-Go-Ons like a cow being drained of it's milk.

Or himself being drained of the Chaos Emeralds when he himself had been captured and trapped. Except this was much worse. These aliens were captured against their will, pulled away from their home, their freedom, and were such gentle, innocent and friendly creatures. Each time an alien was sucked dry of their power, they were placed among the batch of Nega-Wisps in a continuous growing pile, while more Hyper-Go-On Wisps were forced to suffer the same fate.

"This is...so horrible." Sonic whispered to himself, feeling faint and nauseous at the sight. Terrified beyond belief of what was happening. He knew that it would bad, but this was beyond what he imagined. "Eggman...You monster...! How could you?"

While the blue hedgehog just stood there with a paled expression, Tails, after departing from Shadow and Omega(who had given up on the five robots that had made their escape after what felt like half an hour or so) who both went to another part of the factory, flew in from around the corner, his twin tails whirling around with a worried expression. The eight year old fox landed and mentally sighed in relief to see his best friend after having spotted him and quickly followed.

"Oh, there you are. I thought I lost you for a second." Tails spoke up while holding his hands out, having been panicked for that split moment but relieved, though at the same time solemn. "Did you find...anything...interesting...?"

He trailed off when he saw what Sonic was looking at and his blue eyes widened in sheer horror while letting out a horrifed gasp of his own. Instantly the young kit immediately knew what had his big brother looking utterly...spooked and dismayed.

"Pretty sure interesting isn't the right word I'd use, but I found something alright." Sonic replied, fully aware of his younger brother's appearance, trying hard to hide his horrified stance.

Tails felt his heart plummet and his stomach twisting and squeezing tightly at the sight before him and the blue hedgehog. The young fox exclaimed softly, shakily. "Look at all of them! He's captured thousands of aliens!"

The cobalt hedgehog didn't need a reminder, because the sight before them was enough proof that their enemy has gotten too far this time. He clutched his fist tightly which shook in not just horror, but also rage that he struggled to control, his brows narrowing, his emerald eyes flaring up in anger and his quills sharping.

"...This is totally unforgivable...! Just how much more twisted and cruel can that sick guy get!?" Sonic grunted softly but angrily, more to himself than to his younger friend.

"Especially since all the Wisps are being turned into Nega-Wisps." Tails added, more in horror than anger even if he was angry himself.

"Huh?" The blue hedgehog muttered, which hearing what his friend said was enough to snap him out of his growing rage mode and, while he was still beyond shocked by what was going on, was curious on what his friend said until he realized something. "You spoke to the aliens I saved earlier?"

"Yeah! They told me how you came up with the idea of releasing their Hyper-Go-Ons that were sealed away and turning them back to normal. Though I guess you didn't get what or how they were really feeling, right?" The eight year old kit nodded.

Sonic folded his arms with a hesitant frown. "Actually, I kinda get the idea. Remember when you told me how you felt when you were briefly under Eggman's Mind-Control? The whole black space thing? When the Frenzy and Void aliens absorbed into me, I think it was like that, only completely different. And I think the normal side of the aliens were feeling just as trapped I felt."

"Well, I'll explain it anyway." Tails nodded. "When the Wisps have their Hyper-Go-Ons drained, they transform into Nega-Wisps, and unlike the normal aliens who have playful and nice personalities, some of them have more violet and animalistic traits, others are emotionless all together. It's a mutation that's beyond their control."

"...Yeah, I definitely didn't need a translator for understand that. If you ask me, it was too much like what Sun when through with that Werehog inside him as well as the outside." The older Mobian shrugged uncomfortably. He then smiled a little, "I'm just lucky that Shadow pointed out what happened to the first possessed alien I saved after it made me go all frenzy, which I also smashed opened the capsule of it's energy."

He then sighed and ran his hand through his quills while gazing ahead of him again. "The ones that were like mini black holes...it was almost like a mixture of a robot and a rock all together, and they felt so cold on the body, I thought that...that they were dying."

Sonic lowered his hand while looking at the unfortunate Wisps with a heart-broken expression, though his heart, fully healed from his sins, wasn't feeling as bad but he still didn't want the aliens to suffer like this anymore. "At this rate...they might as well be."

"Those poor aliens...what do we?" Tails asked desperately.

"Don't worry. We'll get 'em out, and I'll turn them back to normal." Sonic reassured, both to himself and to his best friend with determination returning.

The two friends stood there for a long moment of tensed silence, before Tails spoke up in depression and severe worry. "Sonic...I haven't seen Yacker for a while."

The blue hedgehog mentally gasped before gazing down at the capsules, knowing that neither of them had seen their closest alien friend since Aquarium Park. What if Yacker was one of those things, or was in the process of becoming a Nega-Wisp? What if he'd been captured during his quest to return his friends to Planet Wisp? Sonic felt the more positive side of him say that the cutest and sweetest alien was safe and somewhere else, but he couldn't be certain entirely.

Either way, he knew that time was running out and he had to find a way to shut down this place and save the rest of these aliens, as well as stopping the generator and put an end to Eggman's twisted plot once and for all.

"...Maybe I should've gone with him, or something." The eight year old continued, his heart beginning to ache which caught Sonic's attention as he turned back to his best friend who squeezed his eyes shut, clutching his fists tightly. "What if he's...what if he's been caught? If Yacker's been turned into-into a Nega-Wisp...then it's all my fault...!"

"Don't say that." The fifteen year old hedgehog said firmly, placing a hand onto Tails' shoulder, making the younger Mobian to slowly look up at him as he continued with a frown, which softened. "Tails, it wasn't your fault. Let's not jump to conclusions just yet, okay? Stay positive."

"Huh?" Tails blinked, surprised by his best friend's choice of words.

Sonic nodded, bending on one knee to meet the young fox at eye level even though his little brother had grown a bit more over the years, just as he had. "If you let guilt, fear and sorrow continue to stay in your heart, they'll eventually eat you alive and then you'll end up having an inner fight within yourself. I'm not saying don't have them completely, but don't let them consume you. Those feelings along with anger, happiness, love are all part of us."

The blue hedgehog smiled, relieved of saying these words, giving support and comfort to his friends again, and keeping that lesson he learned within his own heart.

"It's like you reminded me earlier, li'l bro; Everybody's feeling bad over things that they didn't mean to or when it's not their fault..." Sonic trailed off, adding with a sweatdrop and a sheepish grin. "Well, not everyone, 'cause I don't think Eggman will ever feel sorry for the bad things he's done. Well, maybe one or two things, but you know what I mean."

"Sonic..." Tails whispered, his eyes widening at his friend's words. Hearing it made him begin to realize that the teenager was sounding...much like his old self, back before the previous crisis occurred.

Sonic nodded, guessing on what his friend was about to say. He then stood up, his expression turning serious once more as he knew what he had to do. "I'll explain later, but you'll have to excuse me, buddy. I have a generator to shut down."

The blue hedgehog gently ruffled his best friend's head comfortingly to make him feel a bit better. "Everything will be okay. I promise."

"Okay..." The two-tailed fox replied softly, almost in a whisper. He then threw his arms around his big brother's waist and partially buried his face against the hedgehog's chest, slightly catching him off-guard and as much as he tried hard to prevent himself from doing so, he started crying silently, his tears damping Sonic's chest.

"Oh, Tails." Sonic muttered, feeling his heart ache for his friend's depression and he knew why. The situation had gotten to both of them, and seeing the Wisps like this, having everything stripped from them, their home, their freedom, their lives, everything, it was just beyond cruel. He hugged Tails back and gently rubbed his back to continue comforting him.

"I-I'm sorry. I'm sorry for almost really believing that...that this place was harmless..." Tails sniffled.

"Shhhh...Buddy, it's okay. I'm sorry for dragging you into this, but it'll get better." The blue hedgehog whispered. "When this is over, we're going home."

"Y-yeah." The young fox nodded, trying his best to calm down, and relaxed within Sonic's arms.

They stayed like this for another moment before reluctantly letting go and Sonic gave his best friend/little brother a confident smirk and a thumbs up. He then turned and sped off, but not before Tails wiped away his tears and gave him a thumbs up with a smile of his own.

Though as he ran, Sonic couldn't help but think about his and Tails' favorite Wisp and while he felt that the cute curl-headed alien was okay and not captured, he was really worried about him.

'_Yacker...Please be okay._' The blue hedgehog thought. But even as he thought of it, Sonic believed that Yacker was okay.

He felt it in his heart.

* * *

A little while later, Sonic found himself faced with a path blocked off by a wall which, to his irritation, was the only way to get to the generator. After giving another robot or two a good hard kicking with his spirit renewed, he folded his arms, one hand under his chin as he tried to think of a solution to get through.

Looking around, to his luck he spotted two great things. One was a Void Wisp, which made him feel sad for the horrible draining it had to go through, and the other was a canistar filled with rich Hyper-Go-On energy. Even though he smirked as he knew he had a change to save this alien and return it to normal, suddenly he heard movement behind him and spun around to spot...a dinosaur skeleton moving on it's own?

It was a standing over from the edge of the path he was on, and from the looks of it, this dinosaur was a hybrid; a cross-breed of a braciosaurus, and a T-Rex, it's head shaped like the latter, it's long neck and body of the former, and yet just at the bottom of the neck were two T-Rex arms. From the looks of it, mixed in with the green goo plus machinary that was no doubt installed by Eggman, the blue hedgehog guessed that this was an dinosaur-alien at some point before it died out...

And from the looks of it, it wasn't friendly and was most likely a trap.

"...Well, this is new." Sonic commented with a sweatdrop and a raised eyebrow. "Either this big guy's angry or hungry."

The Dino-Skull(which the blue hedgehog decided to call it), roared before reaching down with it's jaws open to take a bite out of the young hero who gasped before jumping back with a yelp, avoiding in getting chomped. The blue hedgehog landed safely next to the capsule, and while he didn't like the fact that he'd been close in being eaten a lot lately, he was admittedly surprised that he wasn't as scared as he had been in the last two months.

Must be because he'd finally overcome that fear by having allowed himself to be swallowed whole by the Werehog in his mental conflict in order to save Chip, and that he was let go by the Whale who had swallowed him up in order to help him earlier as well. Either way, he knew he was in big trouble.

"Definitely both. Well, two can play at this game!" Sonic said boldly, before cracking open the capsule which released the corrupted alien who flew out and, unlike some of the other Void Wisps, it glared at him which made him quickly cry out to it.

"Wait, hold on!" He cried out, then gasped as the Dino-Skull lunged at them again, forcing the blue hedgehog to grab hold of the alien and jumped out of the way just in time as the monster smashed it's head against the wall, sending a small cloud of dust flying everywhere, and briefly making itself dazed while seeing stars circle around it's head.

As Sonic sighed in relief at the close call, the violet alien wiggled and squirmed while squealing to be released in pure irritation due to the negative power that was inside it. He then quickly told it sternly, "Hey, li'l guy. I know that you're feeling really empty inside right now, and cold on the outside, but all I want to do is help you and return you back to normal! But you have to trust me!"

The Nega-Wisp froze on the spot, slowly looking up at the blue hedgehog but actually paying attention. He softened his expression as he continued, "Look, I know how to turn you back to normal, and I'm willing to let you let me burrow your power, but only because I want to save you and your kind. Do you think you can do that without using me?"

Even though it was still hesitant, somehow his words got across to it, because the alien slowly relaxed while Sonic waited patiently, though he began to panic a little while the Dino-Skull began to recover. Sensing both his growing anxiety and the monster recovering, the Nega-Wisp, with some of it's normal side somehow managing to regain some of it's senses, it dissolved into him but like the other ones that were told of his heroics, it let him be in control.

"**VOID!**" Sonic shouted, once again in control and taking the form of the black hole even as more Egg Pawns arrived on the scene while the Dino-Skull recovered. It became apparent that the monster was the one on a rampage instead of the Nega-Wisp.

Being in control allowed the blue hedgehog to smash the robots and suck them in, moving around the area as he went while managing to avoid the Dino-Skull from hitting him even as parts of it succumbed to the strong power. Piece by piece the monster made part robot and somehow revived it began to collapse, though Sonic made sure to that it was no where near the capsule and tried his best to suck in as much as he could. Eventually it smashed into the block in the road, revealing a pathway and knocked itself out in the process.

The teenage hedgehog in the meantime returned to normal, while the Nega-Wisp emerged from him. Both of them stumbled and groaned, simultaneously holding their stomachs with groans and looking a bit green in the faces.

"Ugh...Remind me to never do that again with mutant-dinosaur bones." Sonic grumbled, feeling nauseous. "I mean we haven't eaten anything, unless you count the black-hole being a huge stomach, but I feel like I just swallowed a skeleton piece."

"**#$%$...**" The Nega-Wisp groaned, feeling just as nauseous due to the mixture of having it's power drained, being all negative and having gone through that.

Forcing himself to bite down the urge to lose his lunch, the blue hedgehog nodded before turning his attention to the canistar and while the violet alien looked at him questionly, he raced over towards the capsule and smashed it open, releasing it's energy which followed onto the alien. The Nega-Wisp squealed which made him wince in sympathy, before relaxing as the transformation was complete; the Void Wisp had returned to it's original state, which was a Cyan Wisp who, stunned in surprise, shock and amazement, blinked it's restored eye and glanced at itself to see that it was restored.

"See? I told you I knew how to turn you back." Sonic told it with a small smile. The restored alien glanced up at up with sheer surprise with it's memories intact and, it's emotions back and seeing how kind and brave it's blue savior was, the Wisp squealed happily with tears of joy, flying around him before hugging him on the face.

He laughed before hugging it back when the Wisp continued to rub it's face against his cheek. "Hey, whoa! I'm really happy that you're okay, little buddy."

Unfortunately, their moment of peace and rejoice was cut short when the sound of the Dino-Skull growling made them freeze in place, and the two spun around with the Wisp still in Sonic's arms. They both yelped in fright with sweat-drops as what was left of it, legless and arm-less, still managed to move and it looked just as angry and starving, snarling at the duo, with the blue hedgehog backing away a bit. The monster then dove it's head to take a bite out of them, but Sonic was faster and dashed out of the way with his new friend in his arms, the two escaping from being gobbled whole.

"This is one angry fossil." The blue hedgehog commented as he and the Cyan Wisp were out of reach for now, before he let go and told it firmly. "You better get to safety. I'll take care of this guy."

The alien looked shocked and shook it's head pleadingly, and it wasn't hard to guess that it didn't want to let it's new friend get hurt. Sonic smiled reassuringly and told it with a thumbs up. "Don't worry, I got this! Leave it to me!"

Hesitant, the Cyan Wisp nodded and patted the blue hedgehog on the head sincerely before flying off. The teenager's smile grew warmly as he waved it goodbye, before turning his attention to the Dino-Skull who roared once more, looming over Sonic who stood his ground, and for the first time since facing a living being, or uh...facing something giant that wasn't a robot anyway, in two months, he showed almost no fear at all. He glared at it with determination.

"You know, for a dinosaur, or whatever you are, you sure are pretty cranky." He stated.

The Dino-Skull only grew angrier, because it dove again with it's teeth bared. But Sonic smirked confidently and jumped high just at the last second before spin dashing and descended in high speed, hitting the back of it's neck, cracking some bones and causing it to roar in agony and fury. When he stopped, he held on tightly and cried out in alarm when the Dino-Skull rose it's head and attempted to shake him off.

"Whoa, whoa!" Sonic yelled, almost losing his grip, but managed to hang on and climbed up a bit even as the Dino-Skull roared and continued to try and get him off. He then noticed a piece of bone that held both the head and the neck attached, then narrowed his eyes as an idea formmed in his mind.

"_**RWWWARRR!**_" The Dino-Skull roared, leaning back while the blue hedgehog kept on fighting to prevent himself from falling over and as he looked over his shoulder, he saw a pool of hot, boiling green goo to which the alien-dinosaur skeleton-robot hybrid emerged from and knew that if he went over, he was a boiled hedgehog. He turned his attention back to it's back while the monster leaned over the safety of the ledge and knew that he had to time it right.

"Yo, Bone-head! Ya' got a sore neck? Let me help with that!" Sonic taunted, grabbing hold of the piece and yanked hard with a grunt before successfully pulling it out.

The end result was quicker than he thought, because the Dino-Skull's head literally just dropped off and landed on the ground with thud. Bewildered at first, he quickly jumped off just before the rest of the now defeated monster just collapsed and crumbled into pieces. Landing safely on the ground, Sonic turned to see the result and smirked, pleasently stunned with how this turned out.

"Hmph. Stupid robot-dinosaur." He scoffed, tossing the bone piece over his shoulder which landed on the ground. "But at least it made an opening for me. Now I can get to that generator."

And to the generator is where Sonic went, leaving the destroyed monster skeleton behind.

* * *

What could've taken at least an hour seemed more like fifteen minutes or much less to Sonic, because when he reached outside, he finally arrived at what he was looking for; the fifth and final generator attached to Eggman's Interstellar Amusement Park. Though when the cobalt hedgehog arrived, that wasn't the only thing he found.

As though waiting for him or perhaps it was the biggest guard-robot he's ever faced, there floating was a remodel and recolour of Frigate Orcan, called the Frigate Skullian. It was heavily upgraded with two giant decorated skulls that the young hero guessed were the cannons, given that he wasn't going to take his chances, but at the same time was excited to get the party started.

"You know, I don't like what you're doing to my friends in there. It's messed up." Sonic said with a stern frown as he calmly strolled up for the final robot battle, while refering to the Wisps that were tortured back at the factory. "So I'm gonna mess you up!"

The paused and began doing stretches while the giant killer robot just remained in place, and as though hearing it question what he was going, the blue hedgehog smirked. "Yeah, that's right. I'm stretching. You got a problem with that?"

It still remained silent.

"I want to be able to enjoy taking you apart without some pulled muscle slowing me down." Sonic continued to taunt, bouncing a bit in a boxing position, and as he continued to talk, he did push ups with his right hand behind his back five times, before repeating the process with his left hand switched over. "Okay, now I'm ready. Of course, if you want to run away, please feel free. There's no shame in it...Well, maybe a little shame."

Again, the Double-Skull giant robot remained in place as though waiting for him to finish.

"You guys don't talk much, do you?" The teenage hedgehog asked, and while he knew it was crazy that he was still talking to robots that aren't like five of Eggman's minions, he just went with the flow. Standing up, Sonic finished as he stood ready. "Alright then. Don't say I didn't warn you."

Finally, the robot made movement as it roared to life and Sonic's smirk faded into a look of courage and full determination. This was it; the last battle to shut down the generator. The Frigate Skullian soon turned before flying off, and the blue hedgehog quickly gave chase after it. However, as he leaped off to try and grab hold, he unfortunately missed and began falling into space, which was a horrible thing to end up.

"AAAAHHHH! No no no no no no!" Sonic screamed, flailing his arms and legs as he squeezed his eyes shut to brace for his end to forever float in space at the quickest end of his life and quickest end of a battle in history, not wanting to face the reality of it.

However, his shoes touched something solid underneath him and he automatically began running forward. When he realized this, the blue hedgehog hesitantly opened his eyes and was greatly surprised that he'd been saved by a purple star path much like the ones at Starlight Carnival, and that his opponent at turned around and began flying backwards, ready for battle. The teenage Mobian was dumbfounded by this save, before shrugging as he decided to worry about how this got here and why this was part of the Asteroid Coaster later.

"Oh well." Sonic muttered, before turning his focus to his enemy who by then really began it's assault. First it began firing multiple fire blasts at him, but he stepped aside several times with ease and with a smirk. He knew he had to be careful, but going by yesterday's experience, this fight was going to be harder yes, but also similar to that fight.

"I beat your brother yesterday, I'm gonna beat you today!" The blue hedgehog declared, before gritting his teeth as he saw that the Frigate Skullian began dropping tons of debris and other things, lots more than the Orca dropped. This proved to be more of a challenge as Sonic had to jump, run aside without falling off, and duck as quickly as he could even if he had to do it every half a second which was proving to be really difficult.

On the other hand, it did drop something really useful; a capsule that held a normal Wisp deep inside. The blue hedgehog wasted no time in smashing it open and found it was a white alien. Nodding to it as it flew around him in a gesture he knew it was thanking him, Sonic allowed it to give him it's power of boost to help him speed up faster towards his opponent. He knew that it wouldn't last forever, but this was a great help to catch up to it and dodge the things it was dropping as it tried to slow him down and get away.

Once he was close enough, the blue hedgehog jumped and spin dashed into the lights to shatter them. It wasn't much, but it was a start. Landing back on the path and the White Wisp leaving him before waving a goodbye which he returned with a salute and then it took it's leave to freedom, he turned his attention back to the giant robot who once again dropped more things from below, heaps more than when this battle started. He repeated his dodging strategy even though a couple managed to hit him, making him grunt in pain and slowing down a little, and tripped over a metal crate that nearly made him tumble over, but he managed to keep his balance.

"Ow!" Sonic cried out, before grumbling. "Well, if ya wanna play dirty, I'm gonna do the same to you, you over-sized piece of boned-junk!"

Though it seemed to have other ideas, because it somehow roared before opening some kind of portal before vanishing straight through. The blue hedgehog was about to go in after it when to his shock as it opened up, huge meteors came falling out parrelling straight towards him. Gasping in shock and horror, Sonic jumped and ducked to avoid in being crushed by the giant fiery pieces of rock, though the impacts of them hitting the path shook it violently which made him stumble and almost lose his balance.

"I think things are really heating up bad here." The blue hedgehog gulped, but stayed firm and refused to give up now.

The meteors stopped and suddenly Sonic knew with a dread what was coming up next. The Frigate Skullian returned and loomed right over him, it's middle directly above. He narrowed his eyes as he forced down the stomach-dropping anxiety as the hatch opened up, and the giant robot dropping it's cargo to crush and kill him. The cobalt hedgehog forced himself to go even faster to dodge each large item without falling off of the path since he didn't want history to repeat itself. Fortunately another alien capsule dropped and as the teenage hero quickly kicked it open, to add to his luck was an orange Wisp who flew out and around him before it yelped as more cargo items were dropped at them.

"Hiya!" Sonic greeted, leaping over another crate that dropped in front of him and he had to avoid. The blue hedgehog turned his attention to the alien as he asked, somewhat pleadingly, "Hey, I know it's kinda much to ask, but can ya' lend me your power to get a hit on this thing above us?"

The orange alien was more than happy and eager to do so as it nodded as it's thanks to the hedgehog for saving it. So the Wisp quickly flew into his chest as Sonic focused on reaching the middle while continuing to dodge each attack, and then made his own with the help of his new friend.

"ROCKET!" He shouted, and as he turned into a rocket once more, Sonic shot right up through the robot's hatch and by the alien's power he emerged from the top and right on top of his opponent, doing some more promising damage. He then landed safely on the path that was still there for him, as the orange alien came out of his body. The giant robot briefly lost it's control for a moment before regaining it and stared forward while flying backwards to try and destroy him.

"Thank you!" Sonic waved at it with a salute, and the adorable alien waved back with a bashful and very pleased expression before flying away to safety and freedom, and he knew that he had to make this count now in order to finish what he started the day before.

The blue hedgehog wasted no time in speeding up to catch up to the Frigate Skullian as it fired fire blasts once more. He quickly dodged the attacks even as the flames nearly licked him on the side of his head and arm, though he was graze slightly and hissed at the slight burn but ignored it. He kept going until he was up close and once he was, Sonic homing attacked it at it's skull-cannons on the right, smashing it piece by piece before finishing that off with a karate-kick and a yell, which finished off the first cannon. It exploded into flames and causing the Skullian to tilt sideways and out of balance.

Before he could cheer this on, however, the giant flying robot somehow managed to open up another warp portal and fly into it despite it beginning to burn up.

"Oh, great." Sonic groaned, shuddering as he knew what was coming. He braced himself as the portal emerged and more meteors appeared coming straight at him. This time there seemed to be countless because the blue hedgehog had to force himself even faster without getting hit, though he did cry out in alarm as one came much to close in coming right at him.

Another was right on top and was just about to crush him when, mentally telling himself to stay calm and that he can do this, quickly slid right underneath and tumbled forward as the giant burning rock hit the path which sent him flying forward. Sonic tumbled until he hit the road hard with a scream. Panting hard as he laid there for a moment, the blue hedgehog pushed himself up and glared up at the robot that was quickly getting away, his heart pounding with dread and frustration. But then, remembering how he made it this far, he narrowed his eyes with stronger determination to set things right, and he'd come too far to give up now.

"That does it! Now you made me angry!" Sonic shouted, ignoring his injuries and sped up after it once more, his burning desire to save the aliens and the universe itself making him faster and the love he had for all of his friends, both in Mobius and on Planet Wisp, and for his home world and their world as well, made him wanting to keep going until he knew that they were all safe and free.

He readily dodged more cargo dropped except for another Wisp capsule which he immediately opened. To his surprise, it was another purple alien which seemed to be angry with being held hostage after losing it's Hyper-Go-On, and Sonic winced when it turned it's attention to him.

"Wait a minute, buddy! I'm here to help you!" He cried out, quickly pointing at the robot in front of them while it flew beside him ready to attack. "See this thing? That's the one you should be mad at!"

The Nega-Wisp snarled darkly, though as Sonic was about to convince it again, more fire blasts emerged which he quickly grabbed hold of it without much of a choice and pulled it aside to avoid both of them from getting burned, and then he let go. At first angered for being forcefully grabbed like that, it became shocked with how he saved it's life for the second time in a matter of seconds. He gave it a sympathic smile with firm eyes.

"I'm not your enemy, and I know how much you lost your powers. I want to help you, but if you can lend me some of your power, we can take this thing out together. Then I'll find a way to turn you back to normal." Sonic told it calmly.

Even though it held a dark desire to use him, seeing the truthful look in his emerald green, warm and gentle but sharp and determined eyes made it's locked-up true self take control of the negativity it was trapped within. Heeding his words, the Nega-Wisp nodded slowly before dissolving into energy and gently flowed into Sonic's chest, as he braced himself for it's negative power.

"**FRENZY!**" Shouting this word, Sonic once again transformed into the beast of the Frenzy form, yet to his relief the alien allowed him full control. Instead of going full on with the desire of pure destruction, the blue hedgehog focused on chomping away at the main parts of the robot as he caught up to it quickly, growing bigger to get the larger parts out of the way.

Once it was severely damaged, Sonic cut the connection with the Nega-Wisp and returned to normal while the alien came out of him, at first annoyed, but when it saw how badly damaged the robot was, it seemed really satisfied. The blue hedgehog smirked as well before nodding to the alien and then sped up to finish the giant opponent off once and for all. He jumped high and spin dashed right into it's remaining skull-cannon, combined with a karate-punch and a karate-kick before homing attacked it right in the middle at it's weakest part as hard and quickly as he could.

This did the trick, as while Sonic landed safely on the path once more, and was greatly surprised to see a canistar of more stolen Hyper-Go-On energy fly out before tumbling and landed in front of him, causing the blue hedgehog and the purple Wisp to stop in their tracks before the latter ended up knocking into it, the Frigate Skullian roared in ultimate defeat before exploding into flames and black smoke, and like with the Frigate Orca, it descended down into space, forever lost.

"YES! We did it!" Sonic cheered in victory, while the Nega-Wisp hovered by his side and he smiled at it. "Thank you for your help. I really appreciate it."

The purple alien just stared at him, with a thoughtful and curious look. The blue hedgehog just continued to smile, turning his attention to the trapped energy and nodded. He then cracked it open which released the Hyper-Go-On, causing it to flow onto the Nega-Wisp who, like it's friends and siblings, glowed in rainbow of light while underground a re-transformation before it stopped. In it's place was a familiar pink spiky alien who blinked in confusion, then glancing at it's arms in awe and wonder, turned it's attention to Sonic who nodded once more.

"I always do my best to keep my promises, and I haven't broken them yet." He told it kindly. "It's alright. Everything's gonna be okay, now."

The Spiky-Wisp blinked at him, before it nodded with a not so cuddly expression, but it held out it's arm at him. Confused at first, the blue hedgehog then realized it was offering him a hand-shake. Well, it was still better than nothing, and he could take whatever he got. So he shook hands with it which established their friendship.

What also put him into a much more better mood now was that he had finally did it; he saved all of the aliens and freed all of the worlds. Plus Sonic hadn't even seen or heard the hallucinations of the Werehog or Chip, either to hinder him or support him and was perfectly okay with that.

* * *

After departing with the restored Wisp who flew away to return home, Sonic made his way back to the now ruined generator, grinning widely with success as he landed on the platform, dusting himself off. Now he really felt like his old self, and the blue hedgehog couldn't be any happier.

"Whew! That was almost difficult." The cobalt teenager muttered to himself, just as he noticed Tails arrive via flight as soon as he spoken. The eight year old fox looked just as happy as he felt.

"Sonic, you did it!" The young kit cheered happily as he landed in front of him, to which the blue hedgehog approached with a beaming smirk.

"Couldn't have done it without you, buddy!" Sonic replied.

"Thanks!" Tails replied as he then followed his best friend, walking side by side to finally leave.

While the blue hedgehog felt a little bit exhausted from the fights he had gone through, he ignored it because of his bright mood for once again saving the day. After two days, he felt like he should relax a little before going on his and Tails next big adventure.

"Hey, we deserve some kind of reward." His best friend said with a beaming smile.

"Yeah! After our Chili Dogs and Pizza, maybe during our next adventure we should go to an amusement park or something." Sonic agreed, liking the idea.

Tails just laughed, adding a bit sarcastically. "Right. But one that's, ya'know, less evil than this one."

The two best friends and brothers shared a laugh, glad to finally be leaving this place soon. The laughter soon faded as Sonic then thought about the aliens in the capsules back up ahead, and asked, a bit hopefully. "So...are all the aliens getting free?"

"Looks like it! Once all of the generators shut off, the locks on all the containers vanished, and so did the locks on the capsules that kept the Hyper-Go-Ons stored." Tails said brightly.

"So all of the Nega-Aliens are turning back to normal too?" Sonic asked, with relief growing even more.

"Yep!" The two-tailed fox nodded. "I even saw some of them turn back to normal before I came to find you to tell you the good news!"

"Sweet! That's so awesome!" The blue hedgehog cheered in relief and happiness, feeling the weight of the fears of the Wisps losing their lives and their freedom being lifted.

Even though Tails wanted to cheer as well, another thought came into mind as he looked away. When Sonic gazed at him with a curious and a quickly concerned expression, the younger Mobian muttered softly in worry. "I just hope Yacker's okay..."

Understanding his little brother's concern, the blue hedgehog smiled softly as he still felt that their newest close friend was safe somewhere, placing a comforting hand on the young fox's shoulder.

"I think he'll be fine." Sonic replied, though he did hope that they could at least say goodbye before they returned to their home planets. Thinking of this made him realize that the time for departures was rapidly approaching which made him sad, but he knew it would come sooner or later. What he also knew was that they may not see Yacker and the Wisps again for a long time, he wanted to cherish all of the happy memories he and Tails shared with them, all of their adventures, and all the fun too.

'_Just wish I brought a camera, though._' He thought to himself, before asking as he also thought of one last thing which was also put him on edge. "You um, don't think the weapon you were shot with still works...do you?"

To his greatest relief, Tails shook his head. "Not without power flowing to it. I think we're all good."

"THAT's what I like to hear!" Sonic replied. "C'mon, let's go."

His best friend nodded and with beaming smiles of success and happiness, the two adoptive brothers walked away with their quest finally over and the day saved once more. As they did, the blue hedgehog thought about the two friends they reunited with and while he was disappointed to may not be seeing them again for a while, he can at least say that he was looking forward in seeing them back on Mobius, especially when he thought about a certain black hedgehog who had helped him to fit the final piece of the puzzle of solving his inner problems.

The scars were still there, but they faded like a bad dream. Sonic would never forget, but he will never let his previous adventure's nightmare consume him ever again.

'_Shadow...Thank you. You helped me to face my own fears and guilt, even if it was just an advice and suggestion. I really owe you._' The teenager thought with a content smile.

Above from where Sonic and Tails were as they were heading towards, were Shadow himself along with Omega, the black hedgehog having his arms folded as he and his robotic companion watched the two best friends take their leave.

"Looks like he's done it again. Saving the day and everything. Hmph. Finally, a little bit of peace and quiet." Shadow silently muttered, with a hint of exasperation in his voice. At the same time, he was content with Sonic's accomplishment.

"**Affirmative. All of the Wisps have been released and are returning to their original state.**" Omega confirmed.

The ultimate life form scoffed, before deciding that it was time for them to leave as well. "Then we have nothing more to do here. Let's return to Headquarters. Hopefully get answers out of Rouge on where she got those blue useless rings."

"**Inquiry: Why did you give Sonic information?**" Omega questioned.

"One, because hallucinations are a pain, and two, I'm happy to leave the saving the world to him, thanks." Shadow replied.

"**Does not compute.**" The robot replied.

The black hedgehog rolled his eyes, and just remained silent. Secretly, he smiled to himself, pleased with the results, and seeing how much more relaxed and, calm and energetic Sonic was, Shadow had a feeling that his rival had found some peace within himself which made the older hedgehog relieved. Jealous since he helped out in having the blue hedgehog get over his problem, and was quicker to do so, but glad none the less.

'_Sonic...Well done._' Shadow thought to himself.

With that thought, the two members of Team Dark turned and took their own leave in a separate Egg Shuttle and would then take the elevator back to Mobius themselves.

* * *

Making it back to the Egg Shuttle in no time flat for the last time, Sonic and Tails excitedly and impatiently waited for their ride to take them back to Tropical Resort where they would finally go home, but not before sharing their final fun moments with Yacker and all of the freed aliens and then having to say goodbye. They were sad for the latter part, but the two Mobians knew that it had to be.

As they did, the two best friends noticed the last of the purple chain that held Asteroid Coaster along with the other chains that held the other planets to the Amusement Park finally disappear. They smiled through their window with sheer happiness. Best part was, they prevented Mobius from being Mind-Controlled and foiled Eggman's plot at long last.

"Yes!" Tails cheered happily. "The tractor beams are gone! The planets are free!"

"Was there any doubt? I mean, really?" Sonic smiled widely, chuckling. He playfully ruffled his friend's head. "Great job, buddy!"

"Thanks. I'm still really happy!" The eight year old fox beamed, giggling.

"You and me both, dude. You and me both." The cobalt hedgehog replied, turning his gaze back to the sight before them, mainly his attention on Planet Wisp, and then to his home, Mobius. Two of the Universe's most beautiful planets, at least in his opinion, the perfect home for humans, mobians, animals, and in the alien world's case, the Wisps.

Finally they were all free. Safe and sound. Aside from the construction site on Yacker's world, Sonic was relieved that it hadn't had anymore damage, and for once Mobius didn't have any damage at all. No cities being destroyed, no gorgeous landscapes ruined by metal and robots, no lives lost(not that it ever happened in any adventures at all), and the best part, both worlds along with the others were still whole.

The blue hedgehog gazed at his and Tails' planet more longingly, feeling the excitement to finally be home soon. It wasn't until he realized it now, that like his best friend, he'd actually been homesick. Sure he had tons of fun exploring new worlds and the usual robot-butt-kicking, even when times he'd been scared by both things that either tried to kill him or friends like the Whale that he thought were threats, making such wonderful friends of the most gentle aliens he'd ever encountered, but as the old saying goes.

There's no place like home.

Not only that, he also thought about Chip, who was peacefully sleeping within the world, probably unaware of what was really going on and most likely would never know, which was a good thing now that he thought about it. Sonic knew that Light Gaia wasn't really there or had known of his dilemma, but he was glad that his forgiveness took form of his close friend, the closest thing he could see him again, to talk to him. He was sad that the hallucination of his friend was gone, and more than relieved that the Werehog hallucination was out of the picture too, but one thing's for certain, the blue hedgehog was never alone.

'_Chip...Everything's okay now. I managed to save Mobius with the help of our friends. I even saved the Universe itself. I even got over my fears of that mutant hairball, and forgiven myself. Thank you for being in my heart, buddy, and for being my friend. I love you._' Sonic thought, smiling emotionally, while unconsciously filling up tears in his eyes.

"Sonic?" Tails spoke up, noticing his friend's expression and looked worried. "Are you okay?"

Realizing that he was beginning to cry in happiness, Sonic wiped away his tears as his heart now felt completely healed. "Y-yeah, I'm fine. In fact, I've never felt better."

He turned to face his friend, and openly said gratefully. "Tails...Thank you."

"For what?" The young fox blinked, confused.

"For supporting me, always believing in me, and everything. Couldn't ask for a better best friend and brother." The blue hedgehog replied warmly. "It's thanks to you, Knuckles, Amy, Cream and Cheese, and Yacker for being there with me and in my heart. Heh, even Shadow helped out."

Tails still looked confused, even though he was beginning to feel very relieved, while Sonic continued. "You guys, and everybody else are more than just my friends; we're family. Always there for each other, even far apart. Even friends that...that we can't see anymore, but we'll never forget. In the darkest times when we feel like that we're alone, we're never truly alone, and we can't let our hurtful feelings keep us down forever."

The cobalt hedgehog smiled wider, saying his catch-phrase. "Keep moving forward and don't ever look back!"

"Sonic...you sound like your old self again...!" The two-tailed fox remarked, smiling widely himself. "Does that mean...?"

"Yep!" Sonic nodded, winking at him. "I finally found it in me to forgive myself, and gave that fuzz-ball a real scare since me and Chip beaten him. Mentally, anyway."

"I knew you could do it...! That's awesome! I'm so relieved!" Tails cried out happily, tears beginning to form in his eyes.

"Me too, li'l bro. C'mere, you!" The blue hedgehog pulled his dearest friend into a hug as the younger Mobian returned it, tears of joy silently falling free. The teenage hedgehog gently gave the eight year old kit a kiss on the head once more.

Sonic finally felt free from his inner scars, and he couldn't be any happier with the best friends and family than he was now.

* * *

**A/N: Even though things may seem okay now, our heroes are not out of the woods yet as they still have the last two challenges that begins in the next chapter. I came up with the idea of the Dino-Skull considering that's a planet that was somehow devastated long before Eggman took control of it.**

**Next time Sonic is about to enter his final battles. See you later!**


	17. Destruction of the Interstellar Park

**Author's Note: Now we have reached the beginning of the end...of the story, of course. It's been challenging, but finally we're almost there!**

**I do not own Sonic The Hedgehog. All rights belong to Sega.**

* * *

_Chapter 17: Destruction of the Interstellar Park._

No sooner had Sonic and Tails's ride finally arrived back at Tropical Resort where their adventure began, the two Mobians noticed a colourful commotion in the area where the blue hedgehog first saved Yacker and the two other aliens from the robots. When they approached in the middle, they saw hundreds of Wisps of all different kinds flying and dancing around happily. There were still some Nega-Wisps but they were slowly in the process of returning to normal now that their energy has been released.

From what the two adoptive brothers gathered, the aliens are celebrating their reunion and freedom. It made Sonic smile widely as their happiness was contagious.

"They sure look pretty happy." The cobalt teenager commented, with the two- tailed fox nodding in agreement.

"With all the generators destroyed, we can blow this joint and go home!" Tails said, beaming as he turned to his friend. "We did it, dude!"

Sonic smirked and playfully mocked while folding his arms. "We? Other than some back on the alien's planet, I don't remember you fighting any insane robots."

"True. Well, good job to you on inventing a translator that allowed us to speak to the aliens and figure out exactly what we needed to do so we weren't running aimlessly around the amusement park and looking like idiots." Tails replied, then realized what he said and giggled while playfully slapped his forehead and added jokingly. "Oh no, wait. That was me."

"Hmm, good point. You also saved me from drowning by making that cool Sea-Mask." Sonic nodded, smiling widely. "Definitely added on my _"Favorite Inventions My Best Bro' Made"_ list. Though, you kinda forgot to mention that it can't be deactivated while underwater."

"Sorry. I was about to tell you but it slipped from my mind. Probably because of the restaurants Aquarium Park had." His younger brother sheepishly rubbed the back of his head.

The blue hedgehog just chuckled, his expression very forgiving and not a single trace of annoyance or bad mood on his face. He gave the two-tailed fox a thumbs up while saying, "Well, either way, we can get out of this crazy place and go home!"

Before Tails could reply, a bunch of Wisps flew down and spun all around the two Mobians who beamed smiles, with the Cube, Hover, White, and Cyan being the happiness as they made absolutely adorable squeals. It warmed their hearts and beat in excitement as though they were feeling the rainbow energies within them.

"Looks like the aliens are happy to be going home too. I think we're in the middle of a party." Tails remarked.

"The middle?" Sonic replied, grinning in pure excitement as he began to dance himself in celebration. "We ARE the party! I think we're their guests of honor!"

"Totally!" The eight year old fox agreed, and while his adoptive hedgehog brother soon began breakdancing and cheering on as happily as he'd ever been, spinning on the floor like crazy, the younger Mobian flew in the air and laughed while playing with the Wisps.

"Yeah! Woo-hooo!" The cobalt hero exclaimed. He almost couldn't believe that he actually pulled it off, with the help of all of his friends he made here, and friends that were always with him. It had been challenging, but when has any of his adventures been not?

However, little did Sonic and his friends know, this wasn't the end. In fact, this was the beginning.

The beginning of the end.

* * *

Back in his secret lab, joined by all of his five minion robots who had barely managed to escape Omega's wrath, Eggman was in his own good mood. So much so that he felt like he was the victor as the power that filled up his cannon was almost completely full. Meaning that Sonic wasn't as victorious as the teenager thought he was.

Orbot was ignoring the evil man as always, Decoe and Becoe both had their hands on their backs with groans, Bokkun had a crossed bandaid on top of his head, and for once Cubot tried to look alert.

"Oh ho ho ho ho ho!" Eggman laughed evilly, grinning widely while twirling his finger around his mustache. "That fool Sonic thinks he's won because he's destroyed all my generators! Well, the mind control cannon is full enough for what it has to do."

He stood up from his seat dramatically, raising his palm into the air before clutching it, declaring. "I WILL have the last laugh!"

"Hip hip hooray..." Decoe, Becoe and Bokkun deadpanned simultaneously, their robotic mind more onto the damages they received from the rouge robot earlier than anything else, while Cubot applauded more enthuiastically at Eggman's resolve. However, Orbot seemed to be very confused.

"The last laugh? How is laughing last special? Isn't that like being the slowest to get the joke?" The red robot asked, genuinely serious and not getting the full idea.

"Yeah, I laugh last all the time! People look at me like I'm an idiot! Forgetaboutit!" Cubot exclaimed, still in the same voice as he had since their encounter with Tails, Shadow and Omega.

"That's because you ARE an idiot!" Eggman howled, turning around and glaring at the stupid yellow robot, and once again mentally asking himself why he built him in the first place.

An awkward pause.

"You talkin' to me?" Cubot asked thoughtfully.

"No, he's talking to a bird that flew in." Bokkun responded sarcastically, groaning in annoyance. "Who else could he be talking to apart from us!?"

"Yes, I'm talking to you!" Eggman shouted to the cube-shaped robot, getting more and more annoyed. "There's nobody else here, so I must be talking to you!"

"But we're here too, doctor." Becoe pointed out.

"For all we know, you could be talking to us." Decoe added.

"Silence, you two!" The fat man shouted which scared the wits out of them as they yelped with fright. He then turned his attention back to Cubot and demanded impatiently. "And why haven't we fixed your voice chip yet!?"

Cubot flinched, before exclaming. "Yo, quit bustin' my batteries here! I been workin' on it all day!"

"Huh?" Decoe, Becoe and Bokkun asked, dumbfounded, staring at their fellow robot in blank confusion, and apparently their creator shared it, though in more anger than anything else.

"What does that even mean!?" He shouted, before shaking and shaking his head while deciding to forget that he asked. "Oh, nevermind!"

Turning his attention back to his desk, Eggman hit a button which opened up underneath the controls, sending it down. It was replaced by a hideous looking purple control panel with a lever, as he declared more calmly. "In a few seconds it won't matter anyway, since the world will only have one thing on their minds."

"What's that, doctor?" Becoe asked, curiously.

The evil scientist chuckled darkly. "Heh heh...Me."

"HUH!?" The three older robots exclaimed with wide-expressions as they, Orbot and Cubot looked on in shock with gasps despite that they welcomed this idea. But the way how their creator had described it...Yikes.

Eggman ignored their expressions and pushed the switch...fully unaware that this plan was utterly ruined and that he would cause a terrible destruction because of two huge problems.

* * *

First huge problem: Outside of the Tropical Resort's center, the giant cannon began to stick itself out, surrounding the elevator and aimed directly over Mobius to hit it perfectly, much like the cannon used by the Chaos Emeralds to split the world apart two months ago. Back up blasters also emerged from the sides, and beginning to consume the energy of the zone itself that it began to lose power.

Unfortunately, due to the arm of the destroyed Rotataron still sticking on the side, purple sparks of electricity began to form and the energy stored was leaking even worse then before. Because just as the cannon was about to fire, the cracks grew so big that it started shooting up on the side of it.

Second huge problem: Back in the storage area where the now fully completely transformed Nega-Wisp Mother was still sleeping, while Yacker was nearly exhausting himself out of his energy in futile attempts to try and free his Mama, the energy began sparking on the connections outside of the glass dome of purple electricity, and as the smaller alien was reaching his limit, panting and almost passing out, he noticed the purple lights glowing brighter and brighter.

"$%#?" The curl-headed Wisp squeaked in confusion. But then as he saw that the sparks were beginning to hit the giant Wisp, his eye widened in horror as not only the power was starting to go out of control and beginning to hit the room and everything in it's path, which he had to quickly but weakly dodge to avoid in getting hit, his newly transformed mother began make moment.

His tiny heart stopping for a split second, Yacker could only watch as she began to move inside, a deep monstrous growl being heard from within. A dark, purple aura began to form on her body, and grew bigger and bigger as the damage from the outside was being felt on the inside of the room and becoming more and more violent. So much so that Yacker screamed as one purple spark, as large as both Sonic and Tails combined, shot up above him and creating a newly made hole leading to outside of the entire park.

Then as the corrupted energy began to form and damaging the room so much that it cause an electrical wind that began blowing everything away in it's path including the curl-headed Wisp who struggled to stay in place. Unfortunately since he used up so much of his energy that he couldn't fight it and was then blown away through the hole.

"$#%$##$!" Yacker screamed as he was somersaulting in mid-air out of control and blown out into space.

The Nega-Wisp Mother on the other hand, beginning to awaken, subconsciously began absorbing the corrupted energy rather than being hurt by it, welcoming it as the negative side of her began to emerge, and soon she would begin her rampage against everything.

Back outside as the damage was being done in the basement, the cannon was caught on fire, massive clouds of smoke began to rise, and then began to explode, with the stolen Hyper-Go-On energy flying everywhere and the only thing one the purple rays hit was the moon. The energy was soon sucking up everything and began to be consumed by the Nega-Wisp Mother from within as she began her destruction, by first slowly destroying Eggman's Incredible Interstellar Amusement Park.

While she grew in negative, evil power.

* * *

Just as he thought things were looking up, Eggman and his minions could only watch in sudden growing horror and dismay as all of his hard work was destroyed in a matter of seconds. Mobius was still perfectly fine for now...but if things weren't controlled soon, that could soon change for the worst.

"No...NO! This can't be happening! It's backfiring! Impossible!" Eggman screamed in anger and devastation, turning around to pound his chair as he threw a massive tantrum over the situation. He then kicked it so hard that it went flying around the room and hitting Decoe, Becoe and Cubot with the latter two robots screaming, and Bokkun ducking just in time to avoid in getting hit himself.

"HOW!?" He continued to the ceiling above him, while his chair returned to it's original position, and the three robots spinning a bit before recovering, though the light-yellow and grey robots felt their eyes spinning as they groaned, seeing stars circle around their heads.

"My guess? Sonic." Bokkun stated simply, as though stating the obvious.

"Yeah, Yo. What do you mean impossible? Your plans have been crushed by Sonic for, like, ever. He stops you like it's his job or something. I can't remember a plan he didn't stop!"

"The only reason you can't remember is because you were made before he arrived yesterday." Decoe pointed out.

"He has a point, though. Sonic's always stopped Dr. Eggman's plans since day one." Becoe reminded his friend.

Eggman spun around to them and protested defensively the two robots that said that. "What are you two talking about!? He hasn't stopped all of them!"

"Name one." Cubot challenged.

"...Um..." The evil doctor murmured as he placed a hand under his chin in confusion and embarrassment as he tried to remember the time when Sonic didn't succeed in stopping him. The closest he could think of was when he caught the teenage hedgehog off-guard by stripping him of the Chaos Emeralds and splitting the world apart, but even then the young hero managed to put it back together and against all odds stopped Dark Gaia, and survived, so that didn't count as him not stopping Eggman's plans.

Bokkun sighed, muttering to himself as he knew that Sonic stopped all of Eggman's plans. "I beg to differ."

"Oh, dear." Decoe and Becoe both chorused with sighs.

"Way to pay attention, pal!" Orbot on the other hand praised Cubot, patting him on the back...a bit too hard which caused the stupidest robot to have a screech inside of him somewhere, but didn't even notice.

"Thank you!" Cubot replied with a thumbs up...and he and everyone else in room soon realized that his voice as changed...back to the way it was before yesterday...and as of before, it was still VERY annoying.

"Hey, my voice! It's back! All right!" He cheered happily and excitedly.

"Ahh..." Orbot sighed contently on the other hand, as though he was in love. "There's the sweet sound my auditory processors know and love."

"Oh no...!" Decoe, Becoe and Bokkun all groaned in dismay, while Orbot and Cubot shared a fist bump.

Eggman was in the same vote as the other three robots as he turned around, groaning in dismay as he slapped a palm on his forehead. "Now I remember why we changed his voice chip."

Then, recollecting himself as he now had thoughts of revenge and wanting to kill someone filling up his mind and rage, the evil scientist growled darkly while declaring. "No matter! I may have suffered a setback, but this thing's far from over!"

While turning back to his screen to remind himself of the situation, Eggman narrowed his eyebrows, gritted his teeth and clutched his fists which shook before plopping himself into his seat as he still had one last thing to do and this time he was going to do it right.

"I WILL _CRUSH_ SONIC!" He growled, before ascending up into a tunnel in the ceiling, leaving behind his minions to fend for themselves.

A moment of silence while the room continued to shake violently.

"The man gets an A for effort, that's for sure." Cubot remarked, causing Orbot, Decoe, Becoe and Bokkun to shake their heads in exasperation.

Suddenly Decoe thought of something as dread began to fill his system. "Uh...aren't we forgetting something?"

The other robots glanced at him before looking at each other. Each one folded their arms thoughtfully as Becoe murmured. "Yeah, I got this scary, giant purple monster-alien in my computer system too-Wait a minute!"

As soon as he exclaimed the last three words, his, Decoe and Bokkun's eyes widened in horror while Orbot looked panicked-stricken as they all shared a horrified expression, the one memory filling up their minds that Eggman forgot about, one that was about to not just destroy the Amusement Park...but very possibly all six worlds.

"What, what is it?" Cubot asked, not yet realizing it yet.

"THE MOTHER-WISP!" The other four robots exclaimed in horror.

"...What about her?" The fifth robot inquired stupidly, still not getting it.

"If this keeps up, she'll wake up and destroy everything in her path!" Decoe screamed hysterically.

"Just like the doctor said!" Becoe added, panicking.

"WAAAAAH! WE'RE DOOMED!" Bokkun wailed, realizing that the end of everything was coming.

"...Who wants to suddenly hope that Sonic defeats the boss, takes the Chaos Emeralds and saves everyone while we make our daring escape?" Orbot asked nervously.

A moment of tensed silence.

"GOOD LUCK, SONIC!" All four robots screamed as they ultimately decided to put all their hopes on the heroic young hedgehog, before taking their leave through the door as their only way out, leaving behind Cubot who, realizing at the last second as usual, panicked and hurried after his companions.

"WAIT FOR ME!" He screamed, flying through the door as well.

* * *

Back in the Tropical Resort, the entire area began to shake very badly that Sonic and Tails both nearly lost their balance as they cried out in alarm. To make things worse, the lights started going out, the alarm started blaring, and the quake was quickly getting worse.

"Whoa! What the!?" The blue hedgehog exclaimed. As he looked around, the young hero saw dust and tiny rock fall all around, and all of the Wisps, feeling the quakes even when they were in mid-air, looking petrified with fear as they began screaming before fleeing for their lives.

'_Okay, so things aren't as calm as I thought it would be._' He thought to himself as he felt the terrible feeling of dread surge up, his heart beating wildly as he just knew that something was disastrously wrong. "Hey, Tails?"

"Yeah?" The two-tailed fox almost squeaked in fear, looking over his shoulder at his best friend.

"I've got a bad feeling about this." The teenager stated, with a sweat-drop.

Tails sighed a bit of relief. "Oh, good. So it's not just me..."

Sonic nodded, grinning nervously. "When I feel the ground shake under my feet and see plumes of dust rising, rubble tumbling and aliens running for their lives...yeah, I get a bad feeling."

He turned to his little brother while gesturing at the path that leads to the elevator, and suggested somewhat jokingly. "So how's 'bout you and me make like Eggman's hairline and recede?"

"...Uh, this isn't joke time." The eight year old kit said, increasingly panicked. "This is running to the elevator time...!"

"Sorry, couldn't help myself. Just trying to lighten the mood a bit." The blue hedgehog shrugged sheepishly, before declaring. "We're outta here!"

"Yeah, running now!" Tails almost screamed as he whirled his two tails and took off via flight. Sonic followed for a bit before stopping and looked over his shoulder to gaze at Tropical Resort one last time, realizing that he would never see it again.

"Well...it's been fun while it lasted." The cobalt hedgehog whispered, before taking off after his best friend in high speed. At the same time, he could only hope that the rest of his friends made it back before them. Well, Rouge, Knuckles obviously, and hopefully Amy, Cream and Cheese too. Shadow and Omega on the other hand...Sonic hoped that they'd been way ahead of them as well.

The duo ran and flew as fast as they could all the way back to the elevator, taking a short-cut since the grind rails would take too long and neither one wanted to be around any much longer than necessary. All the while even though they knew that the aliens would be okay, the felt as though they were slowing down due to the increasing fear of not being able to make it, but Sonic was forcing it down, more concerned about his best friend's safety than his own.

Large pieces of the buildings and hover cars that lost power began crumbling and falling over, blocking parts of the pathway towards their exit. Tails screamed and flew out of the way as best as he could, while Sonic easily zig-zagged, avoiding the large debris and vehicles that crashed onto the road, sending huge clouds of dust flying everywhere. The alarms blared louder and louder, but the two Mobians were doing their best to ignore them.

"_**CRITICAL SYSTEMS FAILURE! Repeat, CRITICAL SYSTEMS FAILURE! All attraction access is temporarily suspended. Please evacuate via emergency exit. THIS IS ALL YOUR FAULT!**_" Eggman's intercom blared.

They ignored that as well as they were quickly reaching the elevator, even as the area continued to crumble all around them. Their hearts pounding furiously in their chests, Sonic had better luck in doing his best to attempt to calm his down, while Tails was becoming more and more hysteric, fearing that they wouldn't make it on time even with their speed. It was like they were out running a furious, hungry giant monster that wanted to eat them.

Just as he thought they were getting close, an entire building began to topple over and was right over him, and Tails found himself right at it's landing point, quickly becoming exhausted through flight and fearing that he was about to be crushed. Sonic noticed as well and gasped in horror that his little brother was about to die.

'_No no no no no no no!_' He hysterically thought to himself, before running faster in every effort and hope to save his best friend. He couldn't lose him. Not now! Not his brother that he loved so much!

"AAAAAAHHHH! _SONIC!_" Tails screamed hysterically, trying to fly faster but found that he was slowing down, much to his dismay. So the only thing he could do was continue to fly while shielding his face with his arms, hoping that big brother would save him as well as bracing himself for the end.

"_TAILS!_" Sonic screamed, silently pleading to whoever was above to help him go faster and save his sweet little brother. '_Please let me save him, please let me save him, __**please let me save him!**_'

Making a daring and desperate leap, the blue hedgehog reached out and just when he thought he wouldn't make it for a split second, he successfully grabbed hold of the two-tailed fox into his arms and spin-dashed quickly before the crumbling building could crush them, and it crashed into the ground behind them, crumbling even more. Landing safely on the path in a crouch, Sonic wasted no time and continued to run with his best friend shaking in his arms, before Tails hesitantly opened his eyes and much to his relief found that he was still alive, carried by his older brother.

"Tails, you okay!?" The blue hedgehog asked frantically as he ran.

"Y-yeah. Just shaken...Thanks, Sonic. Thought I was a-a goner...!" The two-tailed fox replied shakily, holding on for dear life.

Sonic sighed in relief, glad that he made it in time and smiled down at his friend. "Hey, I'm your best buddy and big bro. You know that I'll always do my best to save you. If anything happened to you, I'd never forgive myself. I don't wanna lose you, 'cause I love you."

Tails smiled back as Sonic's own smile was contagious despite the situation they were currently in. "I love you too, big bro."

The blue hedgehog nodded, before focusing on getting himself and his friend out of the place and towards the elevator. They made through the entrance just seconds before it was blocked by more falling debris, but to their dismay the elevator wasn't there, and he was forced to skid to a stop as he and the two-tailed fox peered down the elevator shaft, and if their memory served them correctly, there was a docking bay in the middle of the Terminal Velocity halfway down.

"We'll never get to the elevator now!" The eight year old fox exclaimed in dismay.

Sonic said nothing at first, hoping that the Terminal Velocity did have the said baby, knowing that the elevator could be there. Given that there was no time to wait for it to come back up here, the fifteen year old hedgehog knew that they had no other choice. They have to jump and reach it that way.

"Yes, we will." He replied firmly, his grip on his friend tightening slightly as he prepared to make a very risky and reckless jump. "We're gonna meet it half way. We have to jump."

"WHAT!? Sonic, that's crazy!" Tails protested, his eyes widened in horror.

"I know, but we don't have a choice. It's either that, or we end up blown up into pieces, and I'm not gonna let us end up in the latter." Sonic replied, turning his serious gaze to his friend. "I promised that we'd be going home, and that's what we're gonna do, but we're gonna have to take the risk."

Tails began to shake and whimper, glancing down at the shaft, before gazing up at Sonic again as the latter nodded. "We'll make it. Trust me."

"...I trust you." The young fox nodded, and cling on while squeezing his eyes shut, silently pleading that they can make it and putting all of his trust into his adoptive brother.

"Just hold on." The blue hedgehog told him, exhaling deeply and just as the the ground shook more violently, he made the most daring jump of his life and turning around with his adoptive little brother held tightly in his arms to make it more easier.

Though when Sonic was about to turn around again and gain some acceleration when a gigantic part of the ceiling in the main elevator shaft collapsed onto the ledge where he'd just been standing on which shook the entire tower violently that he lost his balance and continued to free fall, the force of it blowing them further down and a bit out of reach of the main shaft, clouds of dust engulfing it.

"_AAAAAAHHHHH!_" Sonic and Tails screamed as they fell down rapidly towards the planet while holding onto each other for dear life. The blue hedgehog tried not to panic as he quickly looked for a way to get closer to the shaft race the rest of the way when to his annoyance Aero-Chasers appeared underneath them, ready to vaporize them as the trio of flying robots prepared their lasers.

Then, having another crazy idea, he turned to his friend in his arms and shouted, "Okay, buddy! We gotta get past them and get to the docking bay as safely as possible! But I'm gonna need your help!"

"How!?" The two-tailed fox asked frantically as he also noticed the robots.

"We're gonna do the double Spin Dash! But I need your flight afterwards!" Sonic quickly explained.

Tails was about to protest when he saw that the Aero-Chasers were getting rapidly closer and closer, and seeing that there was no way out of this, nodded as he tried his best to force down his fears despite that his adrenaline was at it's peak. "I'll do my best!"

"Wait for my signal!"

"Okay!"

The two surrogate brothers turned their attention back to their enemies that were about to fire. Sonic turned around and carefully let go of Tails but they latched hands onto each other, their arms and legs spread out.

"Ready, set, GO!" The blue hedgehog shouted, and he and his two-tailed fox companion curled up and performed a Double Spin Dash, forming into one in a mixture of blue and yellow, descending straight towards one and narrowly avoiding the lasers that came at them. They successfully smashed into one, bouncing to hit the other two while causing the machines to aim their attacks on each other and exploding.

Sonic and Tails both uncurled before the former signaled the other to fly them closer to the shaft rail while they continued to fall, the burning remains of the Aero-Chasers falling towards them. The younger Mobian nodded and despite being tired, foxed himself to repel his two tails and holding onto the teenage Mobian as long as he could while maneuvering towards closer to the shaft itself. The blue hedgehog began spinning his legs and once his feet touched it, he began running straight as though he was running on normal level instead of downward, he and his best friend slowly letting go of each other's hands.

By then the hero of Mobius and his best friend hurried downward, with Sonic running and Tails flying-falling as fast as they could only to see that the surface was quickly running out ahead of them along with poles and springs. The blue hedgehog glanced at his eight year old friend who nodded, thinking along the same lines. Tails grabbed hold of Sonic's arms and as they quickly reached them, the fifteen year old hedgehog leaped and they both spun and bounced along the springs before they successfully reached the other side. But they soon came across another problem.

From the gap between the pathway behind them as they rapidly and desperately tried to reach their destination, they heard huge metal roaring and looked over their shoulders, gasping in shock as, to Sonic's dismay, another giant dinosaur-robot hybrid like the one he'd encountered earlier, only this one's body was a mixture of Ankylosaurus's tail, it's neck like a brachiosaurus similar to the last one, including a T-Rex head, and it's arms and legs like a iguanodon was coming straight towards them.

"Either Asteroid Coaster's dead alien dinosaurs were always like that and that's were the bones came from, or Eggman has a thing in putting a T-Rex's skull on his robots to fit the theme!" The blue hedgehog exclaimed, yelping in alarm as he and Tails barely dodged it's crushing fists as it came after them. "Ugh! There's gotta something we can do to get this thing off our tail!"

"WATCH OUT, SONIC!" The two-tailed fox screamed out, pulling Sonic by the arm out of the way just as the giant robot nearly crunched him as it was somehow fast, especially since it's legs had wheels on them. It roared and continued to chase after them for a meal, though how a skeleton or a robot can eat...Neither one wanted to know.

"Thanks, Tails!" The blue hedgehog cried out with a smile, after sighing in relief giving his adoptive little brother a salute, which Tails returned with a thumbs up.

The two tried to go faster to escape, but their newest enemy wasn't intending on letting it's meals get away that easy. They screamed while repeatedly dodging.

"How the heck can a Robo-Dino-Skull be hungry!?" Sonic exclaimed with wide eyes. After he fought with the last one, he didn't understand how it could want to eat, and how Eggman managed to come up with something this insane.

"Either Eggman programmed them to eat meat, or these things-which I've never seen before, are just designed to crush their enemies and not actually eat them!" Tails suggested hysterically, panicking beyond belief.

"...I'm gonna go with the latter part." The blue hedgehog decided after thinking for a second, before looking up, or rather, down ahead, and saw that their destination was in front of them. But with the Dino-Skull trying to catch them, Sonic narrowed his eyes while Tails quivered in fear, the latter's heart almost leaping up into his throat.

"What do we do!?" The terrified two-tailed fox exclaimed as the Robot-Dinosaur-Monster was getting closer and closer, and the blue hedgehog knew there was only one thing they can do. It was risky, but he always took risks anyway.

"I'm gonna jump! HOLD ON!" Sonic shouted, grabbing hold of Tails once more, pulling him into his arms and chest and pushed himself off the shaft, letting them both free fall once more towards the midway point. The blue hedgehog curled himself and his best friend up into a ball as much as he could, silently praying that they can fit through and make it.

Tails screamed and held on for dear life, and he and Sonic screamed louder when they saw the Dino-Skull's jaw wide open and inching closer and closer towards them, ready to engulf the duo and crush them. At the same time, the teenager was expecting another hallucination of the Werehog in the same position like many times in the last two days, his heart pounding wildly with the intensed fear of the monster above them. To his surprise and relief, it didn't happen, which meant that the hallucinations are well and truly gone.

But that was the least of his worries at the moment.

The blue hedgehog pulled his adoptive fox brother closer as they squeezed their eyes shut, holding onto one another while bracing themselves for their possible end. Just as they were about to become trapped inside the Dino-Skull's mouth that was about to slam shut, Sonic and Tails unexpectedly managed to escape by falling through the narrow opening of the elevator station, while the Robo-Dino-Skull ended up smashing it's head onto the opening and destroying itself in the process upon impact, exploding into flames with a dying roar.

Sonic and Tails in the meantime hit the floor hard and rolled and tumbled while trying not to let go, with the blue hedgehog trying his best to soften his best friend's landing. Thanks to the gravity added to this place, it was like they were on normal level rather than facing downward, and eventually they came to a stop, with Sonic on his side while trying to catch his breath, the two uncurling as a result, with Tails held loosely in his arms, and ignoring the ear-killing alarms that filled the room.

"A-Are you okay?" The teenage hedgehog asked, pushing himself and knelt in front of his young fox friend after helping him sit on his knees. He didn't look worse for wear, just as shaken as he was when the eight year old was nearly crushed.

"I-I'm fine." Tails replied, trying to catch his breath as well. "Just didn't...expect to almost be...robot-dinosaur food..." He joked weakly, with a small smile.

Sonic chuckled lightly in relief, and gently patted his little brother on the head. "Atta boy."

Normally they would've shared a laugh, but the two Mobians knew that now wasn't the time as they still had to board the elevator that would safely carry them back home. The blue hedgehog stood up and extended his hand out to the two-tailed fox who eagerly took it, helping him up even though the youngest stumbled a bit, but Sonic steadied him, and felt him shake a little, so he pulled him gently close to him to calm him down.

"Shhhh, shhh...It's alright. I'm here." He whispered, carefully rubbing the back of Tails' head. Though in retrospect, the blue hedgehog was shaken himself, but he ignored it for the sake of his little brother.

The young kit tried to force himself to calm, and whispered back. "I don't think I'll stop shaking 'til we get home."

"Then I guess we'd better hurry then, huh?" Sonic replied, smiling a little, which made Tails giggle softly. The two adoptive brothers let go of each other and with smiles, nodded before hurrying over to the elevator.

Thankfully it was down in a small corridor as they raced through the larger room, even though Sonic matched Tails' running pace to help the latter keep up, and quicker than they expected, the welcoming elevator was right there waiting for them to carry of it's last passengers for the final time in it's short period of use.

"Time to bail!" The blue hedgehog announced as he and his two-tailed companion were just about to enter as the doors opened automatically waiting for them.

Unfortunately, their escape was delayed as the entire room shook violent that made the two best friends stop just in front of the doors. Hearing a crashing noise behind them, Sonic and Tails spun around and their eyes widened to see doors in the ceiling open from above. Out came a giant mech which disturbingly resembled to a Nega-Wisp with pointed spikes on the body, one huge one on top of the cockpit, red clear glowing eyes, a huge razor-sharp mouth, cannon that could fire spikes, small stubby legs on the front and sides, a long, skeleton-reptile like tail that looked like a scorpion's stinger, and two large metal tentacles that had ends that looked like pincers with huge mouths that looked like out from a vacuum cleaner.

The cockpit on the ground not only was located on the front just above the eyes facing downward towards the mech's mouth with a red arrow that looked like a nose, but it held the very last person they expected to see inside, looking very angry; scratch that, he looked furious. Beyond even. The very person Sonic had actually kind of hoped to avoid today, but deep down he knew that he'd have to face him eventually.

He just didn't expect it to be here.

"Is that...!?" Tails trailed off in shock.

Sonic was just in shock as his best friend, his heart skipping a beat as he exclaimed with his mouth slightly dropped open. "It can't be!"

"Leaving so soon?" The voice that belonged to none other than Eggman from within the cockpit as the hatch opened up to reveal the glass cockpit, and the evil man himself, sneered.

"Eggman...!" The blue hedgehog grunted, narrowing his eyes as he quickly fought down his shock and growing fear, replacing it with anger, bravery and calmness while standing protectively in front of Tails to keep him out of the insane villain's reach. He should've known that they wouldn't be leaving easily, but that tended to happen a lot lately.

"Ho ho ho ho ho! There are no lines, and I've saved the best rides for last!" Eggman declared, adding with a twisted, toothed grin. "...A ride to your utter defeat!"

Sonic rolled his eyes and stood calmly while replying in disappointment. "Gimme a break. I know you're trying to be clever with the whole amusement park pun thing, but it's coming off lame. Just say that you're gonna destroy us and stop embarrassing yourself."

That only made the evil scientist just as furious, throwing another tantrum as he pounded the dashboard. "Curse you, Sonic! Not only do you foil my plans, you foil my speeches as well! I've worked hard on them!"

"Ya'know, it would've been a bit more convincing if you didn't constantly remind people about your threats and mentioning about killing them as if they wouldn't care." The blue hedgehog said in slight boredom. "With speeches like that, it woulda just kept tourists _away_ from this place."

"You little...!" Eggman growled, before deciding to just get on with it and growled. "No matter. I WILL destroy you, and I WILL be victorious! IS THAT BETTER!?"

"Like a million times better, thank you." Sonic replied with a smirk. "That wasn't so hard, was it?"

"Do not lecture me, blue-boy! Your lives are about to forfeit!" The egg-shaped man hissed, announcing his latest creation. "Behold the Nega-Wisp Armor! This robot is special. He's powered by the energy of your little friends. He...is...INVINCIBLE!"

"Yeah, right. Like your other giant robots were?" The teenage hero deadpanned, while deep down he was horrified. He had thought that he freed all of the aliens and released all of the Hyper-Go-On power. How could he have missed this!? Were there still Wisps that were trapped in this thing? Fated to be used like...like the other robots earlier? Then more dreaded thoughts filled his mind.

What if Yacker's mother was inside this thing and he really hadn't found her or freed her yet after all? Or worse...what if the curl-headed alien himself was inside this thing.

'_Yacker...!_' Sonic thought with fear and worry. If his newest and closest alien friend was inside this thing...Oh, Chaos, he could already be a Nega-Wisp and trapped under Eggman's control! Possibly both Yacker and his mother.

Eggman this time decided to ignore this comment and grinned cruelly. "Anyway, I'd say that it's been nice knowing you...but it hasn't."

Sonic frowned deeply as he began to prepared him for battle, but paused as Tails, despite that he really should help his best friend in this fight, admitted in a whisper, his voice quivering slightly. "I have to admit, I'm a little scared. I don't think we can beat this guy."

The blue hedgehog's stomach dropped as he realized that he couldn't fight with his little brother at the risk of being mind-controlled again, or most likely get killed. Tails was a great fighter, but Sonic couldn't put him at risk anymore than he already had been. Glancing at Eggman's Nega-Wisp Armor, then at the Elevator, and finally at the two-tailed fox, he knew right there and then what he had to do. While he felt the reassuring side of him that he can make it home after this final battle, Sonic didn't want to sugar coat it since there was a chance that could very well die today.

But if he had to, and as much as he didn't want to kill his enemy, always hoping that the man could truly reform for real and learn from his horrible mistakes, the blue hedgehog may have to take Eggman with him. Either way, he wasn't going to let his friends get hurt by this twisted monster in an egg-shaped human disguise.

So Sonic forcefully pushed Tails into the elevator with all his courage to make sure that his little brother would get home safely along with everybody else.

"See you on the ground, buddy." Sonic told him with a soft smile, approaching the switch to close the doors manually.

"Huh!?" Tails stumbled backwards, and, quickly recovered, he realized what his best friend/big brother was doing, feeling his heart sink with sorrow and horror at the blue hedgehog's possible sacrifice.

The teenage Mobian's smile didn't falter, but his eyes did leak with tiny traces of tears as he whispered three, silent words loud enough for his little brother to hear, just in case. "I love you."

"Sonic! NO!" The two-tailed fox screamed tearfully, trying to reach the doors to rejoin him, but was too late as Sonic pushed the button and the doors quickly closed, trapping the eight year old inside and soon the elevator began carrying him away from his adoptive hedgehog brother, and safely towards Mobius.

"Just got one last thing to do!" Sonic shouted loudly, hoping that Tails would at least hear that to reassure him. He silently promised he'd be going home, and even though there was a chance that he wouldn't be able to, and this could be his first and last promise he'll end up breaking, the blue hedgehog knew it was right thing to do, and at the same time was determined to win and get home himself.

But first things first. Willing his tears to dry up, the blue hedgehog turned his attention to his enemy, his expression turning into a scowl with determination, anger and courage.

"And as for YOU..." Sonic declared as he dramatically pointed at Eggman, his other fist clutched tightly, then crouched into a fighting stance. "You've _really_ gone and done it this time, Eggman! Now I'm _seriously mad!_"

"Bwahahahahaha! Oh, what's the matter, little hedgehog? Still upset that I have taken away the lives of those precious aliens?" The evil man taunted, still believing that the blue hedgehog still thought that the Wisps that he'd kidnapped were dead.

"Yeah, thanks for the reminder of using my accusation from yesterday to trick me for an hour into thinking that it was true." The cobalt hedgehog replied sarcastically. "I've learned the truth from my friend, Yacker, and I've seen what really happens to them! Sure it was my own fault for not believing you at first when you said that draining their energy doesn't kill them..."

Sonic paused as he tried to control his rage that developed, before yelling furiously while not going into a murderous rampage. "But it was still a horrible thing to see! It doesn't make any difference for what you've done to them! Death or transformation, both are equally bad!"

That annoyed Eggman as he grumbled. "Well, so much for using the accusation against you. I was hoping to play with your emotions and make YOU suffer with guilt, rage and sorrow, Sonic."

"Yeah, no thanks. I've already been through that for the last two months." The blue hedgehog replied, then shouted. "But either way, what you did to my home, and now having seen the aliens become corrupted by either going on a rampage or just losing their powers and all their abilities to feel anything, even their emotions...IT'S THE CRUELEST THING YOU'VE EVER DONE!"

"It's the cruelest, really?" The evil scientist scoffed, un-caring as usual, and smirked. "I've used little animals to help run my badniks, I split Mobius to rule it. At most, Hyper-Go-On draining is bad, but not true life-draining bad."

"I DON'T CARE!" Sonic screamed furiously, preparing himself to fight and strike. "What you're doing is still cruel, twisted and wrong, and I'm going to defeat you!"

"You can try." Eggman snarled, before pushing a button on his dashboard and then with the cockpit protectively sealed, the Nega-Wisp Armor smashed through the wall just next to the elevator shaft and began to fly away.

Sonic gritted his teeth before racing after him and jumping high, grabbing hold of the armor and held on tightly as Eggman controlled the machine to fly out of the room and somewhere in a not yet destroyed part of the Amusement Park.

The showdown between Sonic and Eggman was about to begin.

* * *

**A/N: Okay, so this chapter had to be cut short in order to avoid in the last two/three battles to be split, but maybe we can count on reaching the elevator and the fights against the robots as the beginning parts of the final battles. Sorry that it's short, but at least we're almost at the ending.**

**See you later!**


	18. Chapter 18: Sonic's Greatest Challenge

**Author's Note: Time for the final battles! Warning: This chapter will be dark(which I don't normally do), but light at the same time, so be sure to bring in the hankies.**

**I do not own Sonic The Hedgehog. All rights belong to Sega.**

* * *

_Chapter 18: Sonic's Greatest Challenge._

Yacker had thought he'd be spinning far away from the Amusement Park and from any world that was close by, but somehow he managed to correct his position and maneuvered so that he could simply float without the risk of being carried away. Still somewhat weak from his failed attempts to free his now corrupted mother, the curl-headed Wisp held his forehead with his finger-less hand, his eye spinning like crazy.

As he was shaking his head to regain his senses, the little alien looked up to see that the main section of the park was being destroyed piece by piece, parts of it exploding and being sucked in by the Nega-Wisp Mother who was sitll in the process of awakening to begin her corrupted goal. While his eye widened in sheer horror and devastation, his heart beating and freezing on the spot, he then heard yelling below him.

"#$%?" The little Wisp squeaked, before looking down as while he noticed the elevator descending towards Mobius, the home planet of his two new friends who had done everything they could to save his kind, what caught his attention was a giant Nega-Wisp machine that was flying from the Docking Bay halfway onto the shaft. Inside the cockpit was, to his dismay, was the horrible man who had caused all this; who all the Wisps dubbed as Baldy Nosehair, was actually called Dr. Eggman, the enemy of the world he comes from.

But clinging into the flying machine the alien had never seen before was, to his shock, was the very blue hedgehog hero who had done so much for all Wisps, who had promised that everything would be alright, that he would be stopping Eggman once and for all.

Sonic.

"#%$%$(Sonic)!" Yacker screamed out his friend's name in Wisp language as he saw Sonic hanging onto the Nega-Wisp Armor while trying to climb up without falling over, in what the little Wisp realized was the ultimate battle. It didn't take the alien long to see that the teenager was attempting to stop the evil man, because he could sense it more than see, that the blue hedgehog had courage, determination and other feelings, knowing that he had to do this, or else all was lost and Eggman has won.

But despite this, the curl-headed alien feared that the hero of Mobius may not be able to win this even though he has done it millions of times before by now, and at that moment felt scared. It wasn't until he remembered what Sonic had told him earlier back in his home world, when the blue hedgehog confessed things to him.

* * *

_"I know you do the same, Yacker. Looking out for everybody here even long before all of this started." Sonic told him._

_He then looked up at the sky while adding. "You and I have a lot in common. Looking out for our friends because we're both willing to, and after today or yesterday, you and all of the aliens are my friends now. When I first saw you and a few of your buddies in trouble, I knew what I had to do. I know it's not easy looking out for everybody you care about, but one can only do their best. And hey, I think you've done a great job."_

_"#$%$&?" The cute Wisp muttered, surprised by the praise and reassurance._

_"Tails and I wouldn't have known a lot if you weren't around. Okay, the translator not being 100% great a few times, but you really helped out a lot, buddy. You and Tails helped me through out this adventure. That still counts in helping your friends. So...Thanks." Sonic said fondly._

* * *

Those words echoed in his mind, filling his heart with great emotions while helplessly watching Sonic vanish along with Eggman and the giant robot around the corner of the park before back again and over the glass dome before flying down towards the larger planet. Sonic...his very dear friend...Yacker felt his eye fill up with tears. He felt his heart break due to already failing in saving his mother...the very thought of losing his cobalt hero and very dear friend as well...

No. Yacker refused to let that happen. Even though he didn't have much energy left and as the battle began with Sonic chasing after Eggman before being chased himself and vice versa, rescuing the Wisps that were held inside and the battle becoming increasingly deadly, the curl-headed Wisp knew what he had to do.

He was going to help Sonic in this battle.

* * *

"Whooooooaaaaaaaa!" Sonic screamed as he lost one grip of the Nega-Wisp Armor that was flying around the increasingly decaying Amusement Park, and his lucky grace was that, being a Mobian, he can actually breathe in space which he still didn't understand even to this day since humans are Mobians as well. He still managed to hold on while struggling to grab hold with his other hand again, with Eggman driving the robot all around the park just to get him off.

Eventually the blue hedgehog managed to begin climbing his way up despite that his enemy was flying around in the Nega-Wisp Armor very dangerously, though Sonic knew that it was to try and shake him off without committing suicide. Eggman seemed to notice the teenager making his way up towards the cockpit, because he looked over his shoulder and frowned furiously just how stubborn his arch enemy really is.

"You little...! Why do you have to be such a stubborn and irritating nuisance of a pest!?" Eggman demanded angrily.

"Why do _you_ have to go and change the world from life into nothing but metal, and hurt so many lives!?" Sonic demanded back, quickly making his way closer to the cockpit and glaring eye to eye with the evil madman. "And don't think I'll ever forgive you for what you've done to all these aliens, to their home, to my best friend Tails, and what you're trying to do to the Universe! All for the same thing over and over again! I'm sick of it! I'm sick of you and your continuous plots to try and take over my home and force everybody to obey you!"

"And I'm sick of your continuous interference in stopping me from gaining my goal, little hedgehog!" The egg-shaped man bellowed back as he controlled the Nega-Wisp Armor around once more, eventually over the outside of the elevator shaft while attempting to ignore the destruction his park is going through. "It wouldn't come to this if you joined my side years ago, Sonic. We could have easily avoided it and all the other times you stopped me!"

"NO!" The cobalt hedgehog shouted, glaring at him. "I told you once and I'll say it again; I'll NEVER join with you!"

Before Eggman could make a response, Sonic punched and kicked at the Armor so hard once the latter knew they were somewhat safely over and on top of the shaft which created a surprisingly decent dents on the machine which made the former yelp in surprise and shock which the force of it nearly sent him falling off his seat and sending the Nega-Wisp Armor falling backwards. The blue hedgehog jumped off and somersaulted towards the roof and landed safely, some gravity making it as though he was standing upright, not upside down or facing downward.

The evil scientist cried out in alarm before attempting to quickly repositon himself and fiddle with the controls to maneuver the Nega-Wisp Armor the right way up even though he hit the floor hard a few times, already resulting a bit of more damage, but not as bad as it seemed. None the less, he managed to get it back up with a stumble and a groan before flying off, this time hovering over the floor, and the blue hedgehog quickly followed in high-speed.

"Invincible, huh?" Sonic taunted with a smirk, despite that he was still angry but he couldn't let Eggman play with his emotions right now, especially with everything was at stake still. "More like breakable to me. You never change in your giant robot designs, Eggman."

"That was just the layout of my latest creation." Eggman sneered, turning to fly his Nega-Wisp Armor backwards to take down the blue hedgehog. "This will not go down in your favor this time, Sonic! Today you will finally see what it's like to have a crushing defeat, right before I crush YOU!"

"Crush me? Ha! That's a sad attempt of a joke, Buttnik." The teenage hero scoffed, losing his smirk and glared hard. "You couldn't even crush a cookie even if you wanted to, let alone know how to bake one, without messing up the chocolate chips!"

"I do so!" The evil man ranted childishly, before adding with a dark growl. "In fact, I'll be baking YOU, since you escaped from my pie factory! Yes, I've seen what has happened, and if you hadn't escaped-"

"If you say that you're gonna shrink my cooked up dead body in that blueberry pie and eat me, then you're even more insane than I thought." Sonic interrupted with a warning in his tone, his stomach turning as he then quickly dodged the attacks of the pincers that Eggman had his robot launch forward to try and stab him, but missed. "The only good thing about the factory is that it's not the _"Bake Me Crazy"_ ride, or else you'd woulda been eating dead people by now, which is really gross, and horrible."

Eggman just stared at him blankly, with a huge sweat-drop. Not only that his own words yesterday disturbed him when he thought about the temptation of eating Sonic, which made him feel nauseous, but even Sonic himself thought of the same horrible idea and from the looks of it, his blue enemy looked a bit green in the face even just by thinking about it.

"Give me a break! Yes, I am evil, and yes I have thought of actually doing that, before I realized how horrid that idea was. But if I ended up doing that, that would make me a cannibal, which I'm not!" The evil scientist protested.

Sonic sighed in relief. "Oh, good. Glad to hear that Amy's right then. I've had enough nightmares of being eaten by a giant Werehog and had quite a scare of being swallowed up by a Whale twice today before realizing that he was helping me. Otherwise I wouldn't be here right now."

"Hmph! Well, let's see if you survive being baked by THIS!" Eggman declared, ignoring the fact that the blue hedgehog had survived digestion(much to his irritation) before pushing another button which the Armor's arms withdrew the pinchers and turned into huge vacuums, reaching up sky-high, even as the huge forms of twisters also threatened to suck up everything else in it's path, including Sonic himself who resisted the force that would've sucked him up as well.

Before the young hero could even wonder what was happening as he tried to reach the robot without getting captured, the familiar terrified squeals filled his eyes and the air, and for that instant his heart leaped into his throat, freezing on the spot as from the main part of the park, some of the Wisps that were trying to escape back to Planet Wisp were being sucked up and into the machine. Sonic gasped in horror as he could only watch the helpless aliens being unable to fight and were now trapped inside the Nega-Wisp Armor, once again captured against their will...

For their powers to be drained away and used until there was nothing left. All of his hard work to set them free, so that they can safely return home...the blue hedgehog felt like at that moment that it was all for nothing. His heart ached and broke, and knew that he had to save them quickly.

"GUYS, NO!" Sonic screamed, clutching his fists behind him as he ran. "Let them go, Eggman!"

"Sorry, Sonic. I need them to power up my macines! What better use are these aliens other than a power-source, hmm?" Eggman devilishly.

"You think that all the time with everybody that aren't your stupid rusty toys! That's why you're all alone with nothing but those robots, because you disregard all life in the universe! Even humanity! All you care about is yourself! You always did!" The blue hedgehog exclaimed, struggling to hold back his anger, as he knew that his enemy would enjoy this and taunt him repeatedly.

"That's not true!" The evil scientist bellowed angrily. "Remember the time when I saved Shadow's life? Or when I gave the Chaotix information about Metal Sonic? Or when I helped to drive back Black Doom?"

Sonic just rolled his eyes, "Yeah, those would be exceptions if it weren't the fact that you locked up Shadow and Omega inside that room after thinking that Shads was in a coma forever, and then used his blood to create a whole android army of him, then tricked him into thinking he was one of them when he lost his memories! That, and the other times were pretty much because if Metal Sonic or Black Doom won, there wouldn't be a world for you to rule! It's all you really cared about!"

"Oh okay, fine! You have a point there, which is the last one you'll ever make!" Eggman shouted furiously, as he felt burning rage and pure desire to destroy the blue hedgehog. How he hated the teenager for always ruining his plans. He fiddled with his controls once more as the Nega-Wisp Armor finished sucking in some of the aliens and the arms withdrew the vacuums before powering up with purple energy.

As Sonic watched, his eyes narrowed as they fired purple large lasers at him from the tentacles. The cobalt hero leaped from side to side and hissed as one nearly grazed him, but not enough to slow him down or even injure him even though the lasers were doing severe damage on the shaft. Ignoring the fact that he'd almost been vaporized, he sped up and got closer even as the giant robot then raised it's arms and shot out huge purple globs of stuff. To his horror, they formed into huge purple cubes, very much like the cubes from the blue Wisp.

'_When he said that this thing's using the same power as my friends, he wasn't kidding!_' Sonic thought to himself as he forced himself to run from side to side again, trying to avoid in even touching the huge blocks which, well, briefly blocked his view from Eggman even as they somehow slid away behind him.

"Some baker you are!" The blue hedgehog smirked as he escaped the last of the cubes and was right near the robot and Eggman. "Eat this, Egghead!"

Before the evil scientist could do anything, Sonic jumped and homing attacked one of the giant metal tentacles when it made to swipe at him, he jumped and attacked with a Spin Dash added, yelling out as he went. He struck it's shoulder next as he leaped, doing some more damage, causing the robot to creak and spark a little. The blue hedgehog then leaped away and as he began to fall to land safely, he was right in front of the cockpit with a hard glare at Eggman who's eyes widened behind his sunglasses in shock and surprise, apparently didn't see this coming.

Sonic took this chance to chuckle before pulling an eye-lid down and giving him a raspberry, and then gave the cockpit a good, hard kick. That not only caused the machine to stumble back, but for Eggman to lose control and stumble, almost flying out of his seat as he gave out a startled yelp.

"WAOH!" Eggman cried out, falling backwards and unknowingly pushing a button when his legs when upward and his right one hitting it. While the blue hedgehog landed safely on the floor and continued running and bracing himself for some kind of attack, a hatch opened up on one part of the body and to his relief and surprise, some of the Wisps, seeing that they were free, flew away quickly.

Except for one; a Cyan Wisp that Sonic recognized and, seeing it's hero in a fight against it's captor, flew around him and then beside him with a relieved and happy squeal to see him again. It took the fifteen year old hedgehog a moment to realize that this was the very first Cyan Wisp that he saved and had given him it's power unexpectedly.

"Well, hi! Haven't seen you in a while." Sonic greeted his friend, who beamed happily. "Wanna help in getting your friends back?"

The Cyan alien nodded eagerly with determination, more than willing as it wanted to save it's friends, to help the blue hedgehog who had done so much in saving it's kind, and also to give Eggman payback for the horrible things the evil man has done. Sonic smiled and returned the nod with a thumbs up.

"Couldn't agree more, buddy!" He told it, before turning his attention back to the Nega-Wisp Armor as the evil scientist recovered by getting back into his seat, while having received a bruise or two from the unexpected attack from the young cobalt Mobian.

"This is only the beginning, you little brat!" Eggman hissed, before he controlled the machine which began to glow brightly. The Nega-Wisp Armor then sped forward and flew over the duo as their eyes widened in shock before it appeared behind them. He turned it around and cackled madly as he now began chasing Sonic and the Wisp. "Now who's chasing who?"

"That was a dirty trick, but you've always pulled off things like that!" Sonic retorted, smirking a little despite that he couldn't attack right now and his and the Cyan alien's only hope was to avoid whatever attacks Eggman has. "Lucky for me, I'm used to being chased and managing to get away! This is nothing new."

"That's what you think, hedgehog!" The evil doctor sneered with that ugly grin of his, and summoned another laser right at the teenage hero and the Wisp who screeched, pulled Sonic's arm as one of the purple lasers would've hit him.

Before the blue hedgehog could give his thanks, to their shock Eggman's machine summoned more giant cubes that appeared and were now sliding straight towards them. This made things difficult as Sonic had to rely on his friend to help see where to dodge. He tried to run faster and hoped that the cubes would just disappear, and gasped as he looked over his shoulder only to see that they were getting closer and closer. At the Cyan Wisp's signal, he dodged to the left and felt sweat slide down his forehead while the overly large cube slid past him. Sonic then dodged to the right to avoid another and had caught a short break when the other two slid past him on both sides.

Unfortunately, the blue hedgehog failed to detect Eggman's robot to launch giant purple spikes that came paralleling down towards him, and Sonic was forced to try and narrowly dodged these attacks. But as he did, the young hero mistraced his step despite the alien's warning before both ended up hitting one which scraped Sonic on the right arm which caused him to scream as it hurt more than he thought, while the Wisp ended up poked in the stomach, making it squeal in pain as well. This was another distraction as the Nega-Wisp Armor then fired another laser which, while Sonic noticed and forced himself to ignore his injury while grabbing hold of the alien and ran faster, the attack hit the floor just behind him which sent the two flying forward, crying out in alarm.

The blue hedgehog rolled and tumbled while feeling the intense heat from the attack, but managed to place one foot onto the floor and repositioned his balance, once again running with the Wisp in his arms as it huddled in his chest.

"You okay!?" Sonic asked quickly to the Cyan Wisp who, shaken but thankfully still alive and with a couple of injuries as well has having some of it's energy drained, nodded. He sighed in relief, before glaring at Eggman behind him and then had another idea. "I'm gonna do something to get hopefully some of your friends outta that thing. When I say go, you move out of the way. 'Kay?"

While the little adorable alien had no idea what the blue hedgehog had in mind, seeing how serious he was made it nod with determination with a bit of a scared look, and worry in it's eye. He smiled reassuringly, "It'll be okay. I promise."

"You shouldn't be making promises that you can't keep, Sonic." Eggman coldly advised with a cackle. "They tend to break, just like you will!"

"Yeah, well, funny thing is..." Sonic began as he signaled his friend to fly out of the way to safety after letting go, before turning and began running backwards to fully face his enemy and finished. "I always keep my promises, and I won't be stopping now!"

"There's always a first time for everything, and once I'm done with you, your body will make a nice display when I rebuild this place!"

"Ha!" The blue hedgehog scoffed with a confident smirk. "We'll see about that...Baldy McNosehair!"

"_BALDY McNOSEHAIR_!? HOW DARE YOU!?" The evil scientist exclaimed angrily with his face turning bright red that it was almost practically steaming, pounding his fists so hard and so randomly on the dashboard as he was feeling more than just insulted over the latest nickname he'd been given, that he unknowingly pushed the same button that accidentally freed the Cyan Wisp earlier.

Not only did he see too late as both an orange and a yellow alien fly out along with others who most flew away, while the first two remained, much to his shock and dismay, and to Sonic's relief and surprise, but Eggman realized his mistake and sweat-dropped before pounding himself on the head for his own stupidity, which gave the teenage hedgehog a chance to stop running backwards and instead sped straight towards the Nega-Wisp Armor.

The two aliens, which he recognized as the ones he freed from Sweet Mountain, rejoined the Cyan Wisp. The blue hedgehog then leaped onto the same tentacle and homing attacked the same places he did before and once he was in front of the cockpit which made the evil man flinch in fright, the teenager gave it another hard kick.

This resulted in Eggman nearly falling out of his chair and hitting the release button for the third time, and while Sonic landed on the floor and ducked with the machine safely flying over him, a pink Wisp and a blue Wisp came flying out to which they, and the other three aliens that the blue hedgehog freed flew over the Nega-Wisp Armor and rejoined him as he then turned and gave the aliens a friendly greeting before chasing after his enemy once again, with his friends joining the battle, even though the blue and orange aliens nuzzled him on the face which made him chuckle, while the yellow one beamed and the pink one nodded in relief and greeting. The Cyan Wisp giggled at the cute scene despite the situation they were in.

"Sorry I'm late to save you guys." Sonic apologized as he ran. "I guess you wanna give this guy a good beating, huh?"

The orange, yellow, pink and blue Wisps all nodded, and the blue hedgehog nodded back in return, while smirking to himself that his taunt had made saving two aliens a little bit easier due to giving Eggman a good taunt that he knew was definitely worth it. The look on his face was priceless.

"How many taunting names do you have to come up with against me!?" Eggman demanded after he repositioned his robot and once again was flying backwards, facing the blue hedgehog and the aliens.

"Hey, it's not my fault you have a temper that's worse than mine and that you're a big sore loser." The cobalt teenager shrugged, before adding as he continued his taunts. "Besides, for an evil genius, you sure are unbelievably stupid in more ways than one."

"WHAT DOES THAT MEAN!?" The evil man demanded, getting more and more aggravated, right before commanding his robot to the power of rocket which it soon began to charge straight towards them in high speed, making the blue hedgehog gasp in shock and the Wisps to shriek in fright, since despite that most of them were already out of the robot, it still had the power of the Hyper-Go-Ons. The six of them quickly jumped, flew and dodged the attack as it hit the floor behind them, shaking it and almost rocking the entire shaft.

Even though shaken from that attack, Sonic refused to let Eggman see that he was getting increasingly scared but forced it down, mentally focusing on his courage and determination. So instead he answered as calmly as he could sound with a frown. "One, you never learn to stop going after the same goal over and over again, and two, you never knew that sushi always had fish until I heard your announcement earlier today! Seriously, you need to not take over the world and do what I do more often."

"Who made you the expert?" Eggman scoffed, more than a little embarrassed that even Sonic knew that the scientist had no idea about sushi until Orbot pointed it out to him.

"It's called learning geography and exploring the world to learn of different cultures. Look it up sometime." The blue hedgehog deadpanned. He knew that his enemy would didn't care about any of that, but he still felt the need to say it.

"Why bother?" The evil doctor asked, grinning madly. "Soon the world-no, the UNIVERSE, will be mine to rule!"

"Not in a million years!" Sonic shouted, as he and the Wisps continued running after Eggman, even as the latter commanded the Nega-Wisp Armor to use a combination of Laser, Spikes and Cubes which was a terrible combination.

"AHH!" The blue hedgehog yelped as the lasers were too close to home, before quickly jumping over an over-sized spike and then avoiding in getting hit by a giant cube and vice versa. The Wisps were struggling to avoid these as well to which he had no choice but to kick some of the spikes away from his friends and was almost stabbed by one in the process.

The Nega-Wisp Armor was then controlled to use Drill, but instead of drilling into the elevator shaft as Sonic feared, it floated up and began spinning downward towards him with Eggman laughing manically in the process without getting dizzy. The aliens used their combined strengths to push him out of the way just as the giant robot hit the floor hard, causing a massive quake that nearly made the blue hedgehog lose his balance. But now he was being chased again and to make things worse, the evil doctor wasted no time in using the same strategy of using the three previous attacks prior of using drill.

"Look out!" The cobalt hedgehog exclaimed, risking himself in using homing attack to knock away the purple spikes despite in getting hit himself, screaming in agony at the sharp and burning sensations before the Wisps quickly pulled him to safety once more, attempting to counter attack by hitting the robot themselves, the Laser and Rocket Wisps hitting tentacles that attempted to suck them and the other three of their kind up once again. Despite the damaged by both Sonic and the two aliens which was beginning to make the machine slowly break apart, it was tougher than any of them thought.

Sonic winched as he was gently but quickly set back down onto the floor and his heart pounding furiously in his chest, and the three other aliens that had saved his life were flying by his side with very worried expressions. Even without the translator, he could tell that they were scared; not just because of what Eggman was doing and what he could do, but that the blue hedgehog was reaching his limit and could very well be dead if he didn't do something to stop this soon. At the rate this was going, he was scared that maybe this will be the day that he will end up losing and everything he fought for would be for nothing. The fear and nightmares of his enemy defeating him and ruling the world, the universe, could very possibly come true.

'_No!_' The blue hedgehog chastised himself firmly after realizing what he was thinking and having allowed his fears, doubts, and guilt begin to creep up again, mentally shaking his head as he squeezed his eyes shut for a moment. '_I've defeated him everytime! I've almost died during those fights but I always manage to come out and win! This is no different! I can do this!_'

"T-thanks, guys!" He thanked his friends after opening his eyes, and despite his injuries, he ignored those and gave the aliens a thumbs up. The Wisps, including the ones that had held Eggman back and rejoined them, all beamed at him with looks of determination in their eyes, and for that moment Sonic thought he could feel it from their chests, just as his own was in a mixture of his feelings he had began to re-develop, and feelings that made him who he is.

The blue hedgehog smiled back briefly in relief, before glancing over his shoulder with a hard glare at their enemy and snarled with a deep frown. "Is that the best you can do?"

"Ah ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!" Eggman laughed manically despite the fact that his 'invincible' robot was badly damaged and one part of it beginning to fill up with smoke and burn. "This is just a warm up, little hedgehog! I have one trick up my sleeve...and that is VOID!"

Sonic gasped in horror when he heard this, his heart freezing up along with his blood, the sheer terror quickly made known on his expressions as his eyes widened. He knew exactly where this was about to go, and given how powerful Void was when he briefly fused with the corrupted Violet Wisp earlier, this wasn't going to end well if he and the aliens were swallowed by this attack.

"Oh no...!" He whispered, his voice shaking with fear. No soon had Eggman shouted the word and pushed another button, the mouth of the Nega-Wisp Armor opened up to reveal a giant black void that began swallowing the blue hedgehog and the aliens up. Sonic quickly grabbed hold of the Wisps, holding them tightly in his arms before the attack was formed and continued to run as fast as he could to resist it.

The powerful winds of the Void began sucking almost everything up, while the cobalt hero forced himself to keep running and resisting until the attack could stop. Even so, it didn't seem to be ending no matter how hard the blue hedgehog resisted the pull and the aliens holding on as long as possible, and he could feel himself being strained by the combination of his injuries slowing him down which made his fear get even worse, and the powerful winds of doom starting to pull them in. Sonic none the less forced himself to keep trying, getting more and more desperate by the second.

"Come on, Armor! Bring me back those life supplies and engulf that blue bozo into oblivion!" Eggman shouted at the machine in frustration, pounding at the dashboard once again furiously, irritated that Sonic was still resisting it.

"They're not life supplies, or batteries, and they're _definitely not_ fuel or engines!" Sonic shouted, not risking to glance over his shoulder as he focused on getting himself and the aliens away from the Void, but made his voice loud enough for his enemy to hear. "They're living beings who were happy, safe and free in their home world 'til you showed up and kidnapped them and their entire planet!"

"You harnessed their power since they allow it, you stubborn little pest! And yet you let them go free! Why waste such potential?" The evil man argued.

"Because I'm not a monster like you! I never was and I never will be!" The blue hedgehog screamed in anger. "I don't want to hurt these aliens, especially how you did today like what you did four years ago!"

"Spare me the past memories, Sonic!" Eggman growled darkly, secretly fiddling with buttons that opened up a small container of seven glowing objects as he suddenly a feeling that his back-up plan may be needed after all. "Because soon you will be nothing BUT a memory!"

"Fine, but that'll be after I beat you up at least one more time!" Sonic yelled back, still fighting against the Void even though it was starting to die down. Even though a part of him was still encouraging him to not give up, that he will make it home back to his friends, his family, and keep his promise to Tails, he meant what he said to Eggman just now, and the other part of him ached at the very thought of never being able to anyone again. Not the first time it happened, and he always managed to beat the impossible, but there was a chance that everything would change this time.

'_At least I can say that...I saved the Universe after I stopped him._' The blue hedgehog thought to himself, struggling to hold back his emotions and the urge to cry. But he had to focus on his task even if it meant never being able to go home.

"Enough playing around. Seeing how you're still too stubborn to die even with the Hyper-Go-Ons, I think it's time to pull out the big guns!" Eggman hissed, deciding that he had the one advantage that Sonic always managed to use against him in the past, but this time it was in reverse.

Just before he could however, there was a loud squeal coming from above just as the Void had finally stopped and Sonic almost stumbled forward. The squeal grew louder and the next thing the evil scientist knew that something hit the Nega-Wisp Armor from behind and caused him to stumble forward in his seat.

"WHOA-OMPH!" Eggman yelped before smashing his face into the dashboard, rather painfully. The force of it caused the small container to withdrew back underneath and vanish, and the large robot to fly forward, almost hitting Sonic and the aliens who cried out in alarm and ducked just in time, the blue hedgehog rolling over before stopping and dropped onto his knees.

Sonic panted as he glanced down at the shaken but fairly okay aliens, asking worriedly. "Is everybody alright?"

The Wisps nodded with squeaks of their language, but he knew that they were okay. Though before he could sigh in relief, the blue hedgehog and his friends looked up to see the Nega-Wisp Armor spinning around and around with Eggman tumbling and hitting the windshield, seat, dashboard, seat and floor as he went.

"Ow! Oh! Ouch! AH! Omph! Ogh! OW!" The evil man grunted and cried out as he went while struggling to reposition himself during his painful unexpected roller-coaster ride.

Eventually he managed to regain control and turned the robot around even though he was suffering a couple of bruises, and a crossed-bandaid on top of his head, before demanding. "Who did that!?"

Everyone looked to see, to Sonic's shock and even to the shock of the Wisps which he let go and they simply hovered around him, was a very familiar white Wisp with a very cute blue curl on it's head, floating at Eggman's cockpit level and glaring at the evil man who hadn't expected to see something so small launch a surprise attack on him either.

"...Yacker!?" The blue hedgehog exclaimed in disbelief. While he was greatly relieved that his closet alien friend hadn't been captured after all, then saw just how exhausted the cutest little Wisp was; he was panting very heavily, his body covered in injuries worse than Sonic had, and looked utterly drained of his energy but strangely not in the process of becoming a Nega-Wisp. Made his heart drop as he tried to figure out what his friend had been up to. At the same time he couldn't believe that Yacker had just came in to save him and the other Wisps.

"What!? Where did you come from!?" Eggman demanded, before shaking his head and shouted. "Oh, forget it! You look too weak for my Nega-Wisp Armor anyway, clearly not enough Hyper-Go-On energy, so I'll just get rid of you first!"

"DON'T YOU DARE!" Sonic shouted, immediately taking action as he ignored his own exhaustion and injuries, racing forward to save Yacker before he could end up killed. Just as the machine was about to swipe the little alien, the blue hedgehog jumped onto it and raced towards the shoulder.

"Not again!" The evil scientist complained, crying out in alarm as Sonic spin dashed into the shoulder and causing parts of the Armor to fall off and begin to burst into flames, continuing his attack until he kicked the cockpit once more, sending Eggman off his seat and as luck would have it, freeing the last seven Wisps, two Wisps staying to join Sonic's side; a green one and a violet one, which explained why the machine had the power of Void in the first place.

While that happened, no one was aware that the small container of the seven glowing rainbow stones also falling out and landed just in front of the other five Wisps who noticed and hovered towards the box curiously, wondering what it was before turning their attention back to the situation.

"Hurry, go!" Sonic instructed as he began to land, while the two aliens, the Hover-Wisp more than willing to obey, and the Void-Wisp, emotionless but having some sense to listen, both did as they were told. Yacker was about to follow when he saw that the Nega-Wisp Armor, forced backwards and becoming more and more damaged with it's tail snapping off, was about to fire Laser as Eggman quickly sat back up.

"Out of my sight!" Eggman shouted, firing the laser once more.

Sonic was about to dodge when he saw that it was being aimed at Yacker, and despite that he knew that it was a trap, his eyes widened in horror as he couldn't let this happen. "Yacker, watch out!"

The curl-headed Wisp looked and his eye widened in terror, feeling too exhausted to move no matter how fast he tried and could only float there frozen. But his horror of his life changed to the horror of the life of his blue hedgehog friend who, without hesitation, leaped up and with his arms spread out, was using himself as a shield when the purple laser fired and hit him on the spot, trapping him in mid-air and engulfing him rather than vaporizing him straight away.

"_AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH!_" Sonic screamed in pure agony as he could feel the electrical, fiery and extremely painful power of the Nega-Wisp Armor's laser struck him to the very core, unable to escape and no matter how hard he tried to hold on, he was quickly beginning to lose his strength. It was just like the time when he'd been trapped in Eggman's machine that stripped him of the Chaos Emeralds, only more lethal and that it was to kill him this time, merely than keep him captured.

"$%#$%!" Yacker and the other Wisps, including the Violet one, all exclaimed in pure horror to see their hero and friend having risked his own life to save the curl-headed alien's, and was now about to die right before their very eyes.

"Bwahahahahahahahaha! AH HA HA HA HA HA HA!" Eggman cackled loudly and victoriously, enjoying every moment of his enemy's slow and increasingly painful death begin to happen right before his eyes. "YES! Finally, you're finished, Sonic the Hedgehog! Now NOTHING WILL STOP ME!"

"S-Shut up, Egghead!" The blue hedgehog grunted, screaming again before adding as he tried his best to keep himself conscious despite the fact that he was starting to reach his limits. "_NNNNGGGGH!_ I-I'm not gonna l-lose to y-you!"

Yacker was horrified to see that Sonic had done what he did, and still had the determination and resolve to keep going despite that he was losing his life. In that instant the Wisp saw memories his time with the blue hedgehog and Tails flash right before his very eyes; their first meeting, how he explained to them and pleaded Sonic to save his kind, to their conversations during their journey, the happy moments like sharing chocolate, the emotional times when the young hero thought all of the aliens were going to die and blamed himself, the comforting times, their talk on Planet Wisp and watching the sunrise on the said planet, which was the best moment of their lives and they wanted to treasure it forever in their hearts.

Tears formed in the curl-headed Wisp's eye, his heart breaking at the fear and pain of losing Sonic, after losing his mother. It was then he knew that he had really do what the blue hedgehog had did for him and all of his kind. With his own determination and not hesitation, the little alien gave out a very loud scream as he began to glow in bright light, using his own power of boost along with a few other skills that only he and his mother could do, combined with a Laser.

He then flew forward and threw himself right into the firing line of the purple Laser, which not only broke it's connection on Sonic who gave out a pained and surprised cry before falling and landing in a crouch on one knee, panting as he was badly injured, but not severely, but also strike back at the Nega-Wisp Armor, which the laser backfired and hit the machine in it, sending Eggman backwards once more.

But as the blue hedgehog looked up to see what happened, his emerald eyes widened and he gave out a horrified, devastating gasp when he saw that what happened, as the laser engulfed the very alien he'd just risked his life for, and now had done the same for him, but using his own power at the same time, leaving him looking very drained and twice as badly hurt.

"YACKER!" Sonic screamed, reaching out for him, while the aliens behind him gave out horrified cries for their brother. "Noooooooo!"

Hissing in pain, the teenage hedgehog ran and jumped, catching Yacker who had used up the last of his energy and feel backwards. Sonic held him tightly in his arms and tumbled and rolled before landing on his side.

"Whoooooaaaaaa!" Eggman screamed as he too rolled, but his machine hit the floor hard and crashed onto the floor, coming to a stop and seemingly out for count. The evil doctor in the meantime hit his head so hard that he ended up unconscious. But no one paid any attention to the madman's situation at the moment.

Panting, before slowly pushing himself up with his right hand and painfully kneeling on both knees, Sonic gazed down at the deathly pale and severely weak alien lying in his arms, his small body dangerously cold but not enough to turn him into a Nega-Wisp. But rather...simply dying.

"Yacker? Yacker! C'mon, buddy, speak to me! Speak to me, please!" The blue hedgehog begged frantically, shaking him and fearing for the worst. To his and the other Wisps' relief as they flew over, Yacker weakly opened his eye, making a weak squeak, looking up at him.

"#$%$#?" The curl-headed alien muttered tiredly.

"Hey, li'l guy." Sonic responded with a tearful smile, attempting to assume for the better and that there was still a chance to save his friend, hoping that the other aliens' power of healing can restore the Wisp. "I missed ya'. What you did there was crazy."

Yacker said something weakly in his language, feeling his strength slowly leaving him, as he knew what was coming. He attempted to apologize for putting the blue hedgehog through everything that's happened, believing that he hadn't been strong enough to help much at all, feeling so helpless for being unable to save his mother. The adorable little alien began to tear up again.

"Shhhh...It's gonna be alright. You'll be okay. You'll get better. Ya' just need to rest for a while." The blue hedgehog whispered comfortingly, gently using a finger to wipe away the Wisp's tear. Though it was more to comfort himself and to reassure himself and everyone that the little alien will make it, despite that it wasn't looking likely, but he refused to believe this reality.

Immediately the other aliens except for the Nega-Wisp since it lost it's Hyper-Go-On earlier glowed together to restore their brother's strength, glowing in a rainbow of light as did Yacker, and Sonic continued to hold him to comfort the weak alien. However, as they kept on, nothing seemed to happen and the other Wisps were becoming steadily exhausted until the dying Wisp shook his head, saying to his friends to stop. They looked shocked as they were forced to stop. The blue hedgehog looked dismayed as well.

"What? Why won't...why won't it work this time?" Sonic whispered shakily, horrified. "It worked before on one of your friends...it even worked on me...! Why?"

Racking his brain quickly, the teenage hero then came to a sudden realization as his heart shattered once more, knowing what did happen. "That laser of Eggman's...it had a side-effect on you and now...it's like...like poison...!"

"$%$%$%&..." Yacker barely whispered, shakily holding up an arm up towards the blue hedgehog who, feeling all hope diminish rapidly, sorrow, loss and heart-break as well as guilt rising up.

"Oh, Yacker...I'm...I'm so sorry...!" He choked, his voice full of tears which also developed in his eyes, gently holding Yacker's arm in his hand. "It's all my fault..."

The dying Wisp slowly shook his head, indicating that it wasn't the blue hedgehog's fault, wishing that he could understand him. He wanted Sonic to understand that he was his very dear friend...he wished that he could say goodbye in the same language. Apparently the fifteen year old understood via expression and in the eyes...gazing into his very soul and tiny but pure golden heart.

"Don't say that...Don't say that...that this is goodbye...Please, hang in there, buddy...everybody loves you..." Sonic began to sob, adding tearfully. "I love you...!"

Hearing these words gave Yacker such comfort, his tearful expression looking as though he was happy despite that he knew...he wouldn't see them again, and hoped that his Mobian friend could still save his mother, and apologize to Tails for him for not being able to have a final goodbye. To everyone's dismay as he gave all of them a final look, he slowly went limp in the blue hedgehog's arms, his eye closing, unmoving.

"Yacker? Yacker?" The teenager cried again and again, until the sudden and horrible realization hit him and the other Wisps like an asteroid, the tragic truth that dawned onto them.

Yacker was gone.

"Don't leave us...!" Sonic pleaded, tears falling freely and finally began to cry for the loss of yet another dear friend, this time much, much worse.

It was the repeat of what happened to Shahra all over again, except he knew...nothing was going to bring Yacker back.

"_Don't leave me!_" He screamed in anguish, pulling his dead friend's body to his chest and cried his heart out, some of his tear drops plopping onto Yacker. "Come back...! Please, come back! Come back, Yacker!"

As Sonic cried for the painful loss of one of his very close friends, the other Wisps huddled around him as they felt the tragic loss of their brother, and began crying their own hearts out, mourning and tears falling. Even the Pink and Violet Wisps both teared up despite that the latter lost most of it's ability to feel, but even Yacker's passing broke through the dark shell it was in.

'_Someone please...help! Anybody! Please...please bring Yacker back to life! Give me any kind of healing power...to bring him back to us!_' Sonic thought in his mind, and for a brief moment wished with all of his heart for even the Chaos Emeralds to give him the power to bring back the Wisp, even though he didn't know that they were actually right there.

Because as though hearing his prayers and greatest wish, the container holding the crystals cracked open, as the seven gems revealed inside began to glow brightly, and began to float into the air. The Cyan, Blue, Pink, Green, Orange, Yellow and Violet Wisps suddenly heard the unusual sound and, looking up and turning to see what was going on, their tearful eyes widened in surprise, confusion and wonder. Sonic heard it as well as he slowly looked up upon hearing his other friends' confused sounds, and his eyes widened in shock, awe and surprise. He knew exactly what they were.

"The...The Chaos Emeralds? What're they doing here?" The blue hedgehog asked, blinking for a moment. He then realized the answer to that and sighed in exasperation despite the situation. "Ugh...Guess Eggman had a back-up plan to try and get rid of me."

What happened next was such an astonishing event. The seven Chaos Emeralds glowed more warmly and brightly, drifting over towards the group, and, being familiar with their energy, Sonic could feel it in his veins despite that they weren't glowing into his body. As he wondered what was going on, Yacker's body began to glow in warm rainbow light of the same energy.

"Huh?" He muttered, feeling the warmth and looked down to see this, before the alien was floating from his arms and the Chaos Emeralds circled around him, and then lifted him up into the air like some kind of ceremony. Sonic stood up as he and the other aliens watched on in awe as the seven crystals did their work, giving off radiant light.

The blue hedgehog and the Wisps soon felt hope rise in their chests as they wondered how the Emeralds were doing this, as even he had never seen anything like this before. Not in a resurrection ceremony, anyway. Then, right before their very eyes, colour returned to Yacker, his injuries all healed up and, as though awakening from slumber instead of death, the cutest Wisp slowly blinked his eye open and, newly revived and in confusion, he repositioned himself in mid-air as he wondered what was happening before memories returned and he was stunned, realizing that he was back.

Sonic gasped in awe and soon relief and happiness that, by miracle and his own wishes, the Chaos Emeralds granted them and had brought Yacker back to life. The aforementioned alien looked about and squealed happily, fully restored and just as energetic as he ever felt before. The other Wisps, even the Violet one, cheered on happily before they all flew up to reunite with their brother. The blue hedgehog smiled happily himself, tears of pure joy replacing the ones of sorrow, while the Chaos Emeralds, as though their work not yet over, flew down and surrounded him while he looked at them in gratitude and relief.

"I dunno how this happened, but you heard my pleads and brought Yacker back to life, right?" He asked, as though the emeralds would hear him. The blue hedgehog smiled emotionally at the seven emeralds, knowing that his heart's wishes and their power had made a miracle once again. "Thank you!"

The Chaos Emeralds then tucked themselves into his quills and while Sonic had no idea why they didn't simply fly back to Mobius yet, he decided to worry about that latter and turned his attention back to the aliens who cheered on happily, with Yacker playing with his friends before gazing down at his Mobian hero and friend and felt even more happy to see him.

"Yacker!" Sonic cried out happily, holding out his hands and the little alien instantly flew down towards him and right into his arms and they embraced in their own happy reunion. The blue hedgehog was laughing and crying as he held Yacker in a hug. "Oh, Yacker...! You're okay! I'm so happy that you're back."

Yacker, while tearing up himself, gently wiped away a single tear from the cobalt teenager's right eye, and it made Sonic even more soothed, knowing that this was real, and everything was finally looking up.

The blue hedgehog's smile widened as he gazed at his friend. "You're the bravest and most caring alien I've ever met. Welcome back, buddy."

The cute curl-headed Wisp blushed bashfully, but beamed none the less and nuzzled his head in Sonic's head, as they were soon joined by the other seven aliens and hugged and nuzzled both of them, all eight Wisps squealing and cheering, while the blue hedgehog laughed both in happiness and at the ticklish sensation.

Unfortunately, their celebration and reunion was cut short, because behind them the Nega-Wisp Armor, having lost both of it's vacuum parts when the laser was launched back at it, crackled back to life, sparks and fires litting up here and there, but still able to move and once again hover. Hearing this made Sonic and the aliens whirl around in confusion, and their eyes widened in shock as he gasped, seeing that it wasn't over just yet and had actually forgotten about that thing and it's pilot. Inside the cockpit was a fully awake and fully enraged Eggman as he had regained control of his machine that is now more than badly damaged but still movable to keep on fighting.

"Eggman!" Sonic grunted, letting go of Yacker who hovered by his left as they and the other Wisps, the aliens scared that their enemy was still alive, all glared at the evil doctor who still refused to admit defeat.

"This isn't over yet!" Eggman shouted, utterly dead serious this time. "You may have taken away those little aliens, but I still have one trick up my sleeve, one that you will never overcome even with them by your side!"

"And what is that?" The blue hedgehog challenged, standing in defense just in case, though he had a feeling that he knew the answer, which were with him right now already and felt that the evil doctor had it a little reverse.

The man chuckled darkly with a twisted smirk. "Something that you always tended to use every single time...I HAVE THE CHAOS EMERALDS!"

But as he gestured at the capsule beside him and expecting a glow, there was an awkward silence as he then realized that nothing was happening. Puzzled, Eggman looked down and pushed the button just in case, only to realize that the container that held the said emeralds was gone, leaving nothing but an empty hole in the cockpit.

"What!? They're gone! Where are the Chaos Emeralds!?" He cried out frantically.

"Sorry, Egghead. But to you mean _these_ Chaos Emeralds?" Sonic's taunting voice inquiried, and when Eggman turned to see what the blue hedgehog was talking about, to his shock was at least one of the emeralds, a dark blue one, was being tossed and caught by Sonic's hand as the teenager had a smug smirk on his muzzle as he had brought it out to reveal that he had the Emeralds once more.

"NO! It can't be!" Eggman exclaimed, his hands on his head in shock and disbelief. It wasn't until he realized that he must've accidentally released them at some point when Sonic had been attacking him.

"Some trick that was." Sonic laughed a bit as he placed the blue emerald back within his quills for safe keeping, while the Wisps couldn't help but giggle at the evil man's misfortunte. "Looks like all you've got left is that over-sized broken toy you're sitting in. Too bad, ya' dumb clown."

That made the egg-shaped villain growl as he threw yet another tantrum, pounding his fists onto the control panel. "I HATE YOU, SONIC! Why did you have to come up here and ruin everything again!?"

"Well, who was the idiot that left the keys to the elevator in the first place?" The blue hedgehog asked back with a hard glare, but surprisingly calm. "Besides, this thing sticks out like a tall tower, and I knew straight away that something was suspicious and it had your name on it. Which your ugly face painting on the doors pretty much confirmed it, and what you did Yacker and his friends and family was the true evidence that you were up to no good again!"

Upon hearing the first part, Eggman groaned and facepalmed himself as he knew instantly who was responsible in leaving the keys behind. "I knew I shouldn't have left Orbot and Cubot to make the last arrangements. I should have made Decoe and Becoe done it instead."

"Too late for that now. Because wishing to change the past won't solve anything 'cause once it's done, you can only make sure you don't make the same mistakes again. I know that more than anybody, especially now." Sonic responded, admittedly surprised as he and the Wisps heard this even though he knew that they weren't meant to.

"You think I don't know that!? You think I haven't learned from my mistakes!? What's wrong with a simple wishing!?" He asked angrily.

"Because sometimes it will only slow you down, and keep you from facing both reality and what you really do have!" The blue hedgehog yelled out. "You know, I've been wishing for years that you'd really reform, that you'd really just give up with your taking over the world dream and accept the way things are, and I tried to give you a second chance. I kept foolishly hoping that you'd see that you'll never win, but I guess we're both stubborn in our own ways."

"Well, we can certainly agree and disagree." Eggman admitted, before adding. "And I thought you hate slowing down."

"I do! And what I also hate that I try hard to move on from the past horrible things you've done, but each time you're a constant reminder that you'll never change, that you'll always be an evil monster with a rotten-egg-shaped human disguise! And don't get me started on what happened two months ago, because even though both Sun and the Werehog come from me, the main reason for their creations, both the good and the bad...ARE ON YOU!" Sonic argued.

This made the evil doctor raise an eyebrow at this with an amused smirk. "Now looks who holding back in the past, hmm? Still can't get over it?"

The blue hedgehog shook his head, "At first I...I couldn't. The whole thing back then was all your fault, but...I felt responsible because I couldn't stop you from splitting the world apart. I hate you for that, just like I hate you for all the horrible things you've done. What really got to me was that I was scared. I was scared of myself, I hated myself for failing, and even though I did make things right with Sun and Chip, and the Werehog is gone, I couldn't stop blaming myself, and I didn't give myself the chance to earn self-forgiveness either."

Sonic paused for a moment as the aliens gazed at him worriedly, while he lowered his gaze. "For two whole months, even though I managed to get back to my feet, I repeatedly couldn't handle the guilt within me, because of how much I love my planet, my entire home, and all of my friends. Yesterday, seeing you again made it worse that I even started hallucinating. My guilt, fears and sorrow nearly took me over completely, almost letting them swallow me whole, that I was losing myself. But now..."

Sighing to regain his composure, he glanced up with confidence, and determination fully in place along with courage deep in his heart and shown on his expression.

"It's thanks to everybody I've seen yesterday and today, and even a hallucination of a friend, I finally found it inside me to forigve my own actions and mistakes, because I had atoned for it: I saved the world with the help of my friends, I overcome my fears, and guilt and the hallucinations, and re-learned the most important lesson. All of my friends, both old and new, even those I'll never see again but never will forget, they're always with me no matter where I go, inside my heart! We're part of each other's lives and always will be!" He continued.

Sonic smirked and continued before Eggman could speak. "Even though when we first had our final battle that I haven't met Tails or anybody else yet, but I still had some friends in all those cute critters, and my parents, too. But I've never given up back then, or the other times, especially when I met everybody through out the years, and I won't start now! We're gonna reach for the stars tonight, even though they look pretty far."

"That whole line of speech is rather touching. I'm getting nauseous!" The evil doctor complained in disgust.

"At least I do a better job at it than you and your Attraction annoucements!" The teenage hero pointed out, as he and the aliens stood in defense, and asked his friends besides him. "You guys ready? Let's give Baldy Nosehair a real crack of a lesson together!"

The Wisps couldn't agree more as they had all been deeply touched by everything that Sonic had said, and Yacker was more than relieved to hear that his blue hero and friend had finally found it within himself to forgive his own past deeds and overcome his guilt and fears. So they all prepared themselves for the final battle right before them.

"C'mon! Let's finish this!" Sonic declared, ready for round 2.

"Yes, indeed! And this time, I WILL WIN!" Eggman shouted, piloting his robot to fly backwards once more, and the blue hedgehog and the Wisps gave chase after him. The evil doctor attempted to use the last of the Nega-Wisp Armor's power to attack once more, commanding the machine to flare out another yet weaker laser than before.

Sonic and his friends, despite that Yacker was the only one healed, were fueled with determanination and courage as though their friendship and the blue hedgehog's words had given them new strength to keep on fighting, their spirits renewed and shining brightly so bright like the stars in the sky, each other's friendship and loyalty making each one faster and stronger made them easily dodge the attack, and even the Spikes that appeared to which the blue hedgehog kicked and punched some out of the way while avoiding the sharper points, and sending them straight back to the Nega-Wisp Armor where they impaled the heavy metal on the body and already broken arms.

Eggman was shocked to see this, before furiously and practically bashing on the dashboard to come up with every attack his already malfunctioning creation had left. It commanded it to swipe at the group, but Sonic bashed one away, while the Rocket Wisp smashed the other, Yacker giving both a power of boost to increase their speed. More smoke and sparks began flying out, as Eggman yelled before having the robot to use Hover and flew over them and to their dismay was now once again chasing after them. Laughing evilly, he then had the Nega-Wisp Armor use Cube, more Spikes, another set of Lasers, which Sonic and the Wisps managed to dodge. Their enemy instantly lost his smirk and was severely aggravated.

"Fine! ROCKET AND DRILL!" Eggman shouted, using the combination of both attacks to which the Nega-Wisp Armor flew into the air and both drilled and rocketed down towards them in order to crush the blue hedgehog and recapture the aliens. Both Yacker and the Cyan Wisp used a combination of their own Laser to hold it back while the green Wisp used it's power to pull Sonic and everyone else safely away by going underneath the machine as it safely crashed in front of them and now they were back in chasing after their enemy.

Sonic used this chance to speed up and just as his long-time enemy spun around, he jumped and homing attacked it in the same weak areas before kicking at the cockpit once more, sending Eggman backwards once more and the machine to malfunction once again, fires breaking out and the Nega-Wisp Armor breaking apart even further. But the blue hedgehog wasn't done there as while the Void Wisp used it's power to suck up the broken pieces that threatened to crush all of them, he spin dashed right into the middle of the robot, his quills slicing through the metal.

As the cobalt hero of Mobius landed safely and rejoined the aliens, the Nega-Wisp burst into flames and so did the control panel from inside, much to Eggman's shock and horror as he began to realize that he was about to lose yet again.

"You..._YOU_..._**YOU HORRID LITTLE HEDGEHOG!**_" The evil man bellowed, beyond furious now.

"Time to wrap this up!" Sonic declared, turning to his alien friends as they knew what they had to do; combine their strengths together to finish this fight once and for all. "Here we go!"

Yacker and the Wisps all cheered, and they waited for Sonic's command.

"BOOST! LASER! DRILL! ROCKET! HOVER! CUBE! SPIKES! VOID!" The blue hedgehog cried out, thinking of nothing but his friends, listening and speaking with his heart, and all of his friends by his side related with their hearts as well, being able to communicate even without Tails' translator, and all the while, he smiled.

He didn't even need the Chaos Emeralds this time. All Sonic needed was the strength and powerful connection he had with everyone he held deeply inside. His friends...his family.

One by one, Yacker and the other Wisps attacked and struck the Nega-Wisp Armor, damaging it even further and by then Eggman was feeling the intensed heat and now it was his turn to be completely afraid. What happened next made him gulp nervously with a large sweat-drop, as Sonic jumped into the air and his alien friends returning to his side, all of them including the blue hedgehog himself all glowing in a vast of bright colours that felt so right to the teenager, like a rainbow of light that shone like a large star.

"Oh no...! Perhaps I should...take my leave!" Eggman squeaked slightly, trembling and shrinking back in fear as he slowly reached for the emergancy exit. Unfortunately for him, it was too late.

Sonic curled up into a tight ball as the Wisps lended him their power one last time as they prepared for the finishing move.

"_FINAL UNLIMITED COLOUR BLASTER!_" The blue hedgehog shouted as he and the aliens shot out straight towards the Nega-Wisp Armor, smashing right into it's torso and sending it flying and tumbling backwards with the evil doctor inside.

"AAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHH!" Eggman screamed while unknowinlgy hitting the said emergency button which, unoperative, sent him and his Egg Mobile flying out and over the hero and the aliens, hitting the floor hard and landing upside down. The Nega-Wisp on the other hand burst into flames and toppled and crashed onto the roof of the elevator shaft several times before coming to a stop, one piece of it being sent into space, and the main part of it just laid there, nothing more than a pile of useless junk now.

As for the piece that went flying, it exploded like a fireworks display in the shape of Eggman's trademark logo, meaning that his plans have once again blew up in failure.

Sonic landed on the floor a good ten feet behind the cockpit, panting but victorious as he stood up and turned to the Wisps who flew down towards him. He gave them a thumbs up with a think and a bright smirk.

"Great job, guys! That was way past cool!" He praised proudly. "Thank you."

Yacker and the Wisps beamed and cheered happily, circling and flying all around the blue hedgehog who had been their hero and was their true friend. He chuckled happily himself, feeling like it was finally over, that they can all go home to their planets with another victory.

"Yeah! We did it!" Sonic cheered, even as the elevator shaft had been almost ripped into pieces and couldn't care less as to why he was still standing due to the unusual gravity.

But as they celebrated, the entire shaft rocked with a very loud boom coming from the Interstellar Amusement Park. The quake was so strong that the teenage hedgehog stumbled and the aliens suddenly looked up in alarm to see what was going on.

"Whoa! Now what!?" The cobalt hedgehog exclaimed, his cheery mood all but gone in an instant and wondered what was happening now.

Yacker, gazing at the Tropical Resort above them, gave out a horrified squeak as purple energy began to flow out from newly made holes, his eye widening as up until now, he completely forgot about the one thing he knew was causing it. Sonic looked up and saw what was happening. He gasped once more his eyes emerald eyes widened that the Park was beginning to be sucked in, but strong purple energy began flowing out and mutate.

* * *

Deep within the basement, the Nega-Wisp Mother snarled and growled as the container holding her couldn't hold much longer. Finally the cables snapped and broke and the glass shattered, wrecking everything in the room and flying everywhere. Alarms blared like mad, which only increased her dark, negative power as it was irritating.

* * *

Back to where Sonic and his friends were, pieces upon pieces of the place were sucked in, as something very large, angry and possibly evil was beginning to emerge.

"This...might not end well." Sonic said simply, facepalming himself in order to mask just how terrified he suddenly felt right now, having no idea what was going on except that terrible destruction caused by Eggman was about to take place.

It seems like victory was really short lived.

* * *

**A/N: The final battle and ending are about to take place in the last chapter which is coming right up! Sorry that the second part of the Eggman showdown was shorter than the first part, but things are really becoming intense. The ending will also be slightly different, but at the same time mostly the same.**

**See you later!**


	19. Chapter 19: (Full Chapter Name Inside)

**Author's Note: This it! The final chapter, and then comes the Epilogue!**

**I do not own Sonic The Hedgehog. All rights belong to Sega.**

* * *

_Chapter 19: Reach for the Stars, Speak with your Heart._

It was happening all too quickly. Whatever it was that was inside deep within the park as Sonic had figured, it certainly was about to come out and sent out it's wrath. Tropical Resort was almost completely gone, sucked in by the monster that was becoming apparent. Huge long, gigantic arms were slowly coming out from each sides, as the first place the blue hedgehog had explored since coming here was disappearing rapidly.

"Wha-What is that thing!?" Sonic cried out upon seeing the tentacle-like arms after gasping in horror. He leaned back as his heart thudded against his chest inside, almost terrified beyond belief. "What has Eggman been hiding!?"

The cobalt hedgehog turned to glance at Yacker and the Wisps, expecting to see looks of horror on their expressions as well as confusion. But what caught him off-guard was that, yes they had the former part of emotion, they had the looks of dismay, disbelief and...heartbreak. Especially the cutest little alien who made mournful squeals and cries, his little heart breaking upon the reminder of his failure to save his mother, which he knew was what was about to come out and cause destruction.

Seeing the tears in the curl-headed Wisp's eye and the mournful look, even sensing it, Sonic's eyes widened as realization hit him, a horrified gasp as guilt rose up, as well as disbelief. Seeing his friend's expression not only made him remember that he was supposed to find the little alien's mother which he forgotten about and felt terrible for it, and his earlier mental claim that she'd been either in the Factory or in Eggman's Nega-Wisp Armor were both thrown out of the window, but he suddenly had a good idea what that thing was.

"No...No, it can't be!" He denied, shaking his head as he didn't want to accept the reality of the situation. How could he have been so careless!? The teenager scolded himself for not checking the Tropical Resort for any secret basements or even go around looking for the evil scientist's lab somewhere as he had to have been operating somewhere.

Speaking of the doctor, the man himself, sprawled upside down and still alive, moaned as he regained consciousness, feeling the mother of all headaches while trapped inside his Egg Mobile with the hatch underneath him. His vision was blurry at first as he tried to make sense on what was going on apart from the fact that he lost to Sonic yet again.

"Oooh, my head." Eggman groaned. "Who turned out the lights?"

He then rolled over slowly while trying to ignore the throbbing pain in his skull and slowly tried to push himself up while awkwardly stuck in an upside down small glass prison. As he did, the evil man could feel the elevator shaft shake, a loud roaring explosion and things being destroyed behind him. When Eggman looked behind him as best as he could, his eyes widened behind his sunglasses in pure horror as he saw not only his Amusement Park being destroyed, but what was causing it's destruction being apparent. Seeing the tentacles emerge instantly brought back memories that he chastised himself for forgetting, having been focused on destroying Sonic and his plans ending in failure.

"Oh my...!" He whimpered in fear, knowing what was coming up next.

"EGGMAN!"

Flinching a bit at the sound of his enemy's voice screaming out his name, and turned to see Sonic and the Wisps race up to him with mixed expressions of hysterics, fear, bewilderment and anger. From what Eggman could see, they demanded answers and from the looks of things, like a few times before, the evil scientist had no choice but to put all of his hopes to save the worlds to the young hero of Mobius, given the situation.

"What've you done!?" The blue hedgehog exclaimed, trying to keep his fear and fury settled despite that things are getting worse by the minute. "What'd you do to Yacker's Mom!?"

"Grrr...Well, seeing how you defeated me again, you stubborn little hedgehog, I have no choice but to say that I placed the Mother Wisp inside the basement of Tropical Resort, putting her into deep sleep while absorbing her Hyper-Go-On power." Eggman hissed angrily and fearfully, glaring daggers at the teenage hedgehog.

"Let me guess; she's so powerful that her waking up is too dangerous, right?" Sonic grunted, clutching his fist stop it from shaking, while Yacker and the other aliens glared in sorrow and anger at the man who had caused all of this to happen.

"That, and I couldn't afford in the park being destroyed, since my ultimate weapon had the power including the negative energy stored inside." The evil man explained, confirming the blue hedgehog's assumptions. "Any small leak would cause the place to blow up and have her awaken."

Sonic narrowed his eyes as he followed along the explanation. "So that she's fully transformed like this little guy here since their energy's been completely drained, and now she's so lost inside herself, seeing how dangerous the Nega-Wisps were, she's gonna destroy everything." He gestured at the Void Wisp who looked quite shaken itself.

Eggman nodded grimly. "Once she breaks free and destroys the park, the Mother Wisp will destroy us all in her enraged state."

"So it's the case of Chaos all over again...Mixed up with Dark Gaia...!" The cobalt teenager muttered in realization, horror mounting horror. He couldn't figure out what caused the leak to happen, unless it had something to do with one of his fights. If so...then he was part of the destruction.

But no, it wasn't his fault that this mess started. Not utterly, anyway. Even so, he couldn't let this new guilt drown him or eat him alive. He knew from that point on he had to do something to calm her down, to stop her from destroying everything and everyone, and somehow return her to normal. The blue hedgehog didn't know how yet, but he had to at least try!

"You know, if you hadn't messed up all of my plans, it wouldn't come to this." Eggman grunted furiously.

"Well, it's _your_ fault!" Sonic argued angrily, pointing at his enemy accusingly, and the Wisps siding with the young hero. "You're the one who kidnapped her and all of her kids and their entire home, dragging them across the Universe with your tractor beams, stealing their energy and placing her inside a cramped area, draining her which has _turned her into a monster!_ No wonder she's cranky and ready to wreck everything up in her confused state! You've no one to blame but yourself, Eggman!"

He panted emotionally, finally realizing that while he had blamed himself for two months over the last crisis, Sonic finally came to another realization which while he had wished to prevent it, another good thing came to mind as he was around along with Sun and Chip.

"In fact, if it weren't for me or Sun, Chip wouldn't have faced Dark Gaia if we died, and you still wouldn't have controlled that thing, like how you couldn't control Chaos! Seriously, stop touching things and beings that are beyond your control! Creating robots and machines and controlling them is one thing, but trying to control living life forms that are like you and I is just asking for death and darkness. That's just destroying everyone's future, even your own!" He continued.

"Then why didn't you take the easy route with me if you say as much, rather than keep on with the way we fight?" Eggman challenged.

"BECAUSE I DON'T WANT TO KILL YOU! Unless, you kill my friends, yeah maybe, but only because I let my rage take control of me! Even then, I'd hate myself for it if I ended you for good!" Sonic shouted, tears forming in his eyes, struggling with his emotions as he decided that now was the time to reveal what he wanted to say for years.

That caught the evil man off-guard, while the Wisps looked greatly surprised themselves, before the aliens realized that like their cobalt friend, they hadn't wanted to take away lives, but for those who had done the wrong thing to learn from their mistakes, and change their minds on being evil.

"I told you, I've been wishing for years that you'd really reform. I wanted to believe that one day you'd finally accept that you'd never win, end your evil ways and move on and learn from your actions. Like Shadow did." The blue hedgehog continued, even as the destruction continued on. "Yes, I know sometimes there's no choice and maybe I'm a little too nice for my own good...but with you...taking away a life...that's not me. Robots and machines are one thing, but living beings? No way. I couldn't live with myself if I did something like that."

By then, his tears fell freely, before Sonic sniffled and wiped them were in frustration, speaking out what he wanted to say, while Yacker and the Wisps looked on in sympathy at their hero and friend, the pure hearted Mobian who believed in the good and fought for every life that are worth saving.

"I know you'll just keep on going, and I know that you'll never change...but if I have to keep fighting you until the day we're both gone, then fine. I'll keep fighting for the rest of my life or until I have to get rid of you for good. But not now. Right now, I'm gonna see if I can save Yacker's mom and save the Universe. So, please, I'm asking you; Will the power of the Chaos Emeralds work on her like they did to Chaos?" He concluded, struggling to stop himself from crying.

While Eggman was disgusted with Sonic's way of life and how the latter viewed life, he had to admit that he was stunned by the teenager's words of wisdom, that his death would effect the blue hedgehog greatly before he would move on. The young Mobian foolishly believed there was some good within the man that would resurface one day, but at the same time accepted the path he was trapped in forever, and yet he still spared the doctor's life over and over again with a playful punishing acts either by him or one or some of his friends, while Eggman wanted nothing more than to kill Sonic repeatedly for foiling his plans.

The teenage hedgehog's heart was pure and bright, and would continue to risk his own life to do the right thing, no matter how scared he was.

"You _are_ too nice for your own good, Sonic." The evil scientist grunted, before grumbling. "But we'll worry about that later, because given how you have the Chaos Emeralds, at this rate you're the only hope in-"

A loud boom and a violent shock-wave rocked the elevator shaft before he could finish which caused everyone to cry out in alarm and Sonic to almost lose his balance. They all looked up to see that the last protective shell of the park was then shattered like glass, a huge purple ball of light like an implosion being seen and growing bigger and bigger. The blue hedgehog and the aliens shielded their eyes while Eggman looked away. When the light dimmed, everyone gasped in horror and terrified awe as the park was gone, swallowed up by a massive maw that belonged to a giant monster that had finally broke free.

It was a giant Nega-Wisp, it's, or rather, her head almost shaped like a garlic bulb which like the other Nega-Wisps had no eyes and it's wide mouth with massive sharp teeth in place, with two horns on both sides of the head sticking out which were curved, a flower-like appendage with pink petals with an eye-like gynoecium and hair-like funguses around it's roots. At the bottom of the head were three layers of extended leaf-looking violet collar, with several ragged tentacles steaming out of the bottom. The two much larger tentacles that were the sources of what everyone saw earlier, and now they got a better look of them; the tentacles were much more ragged with appendgades resembling to heads with sharp jaws of their own and several pink eyes at the bottom.

"Oh no!" Eggman gasped in pure horror, his heart hammering wildly and every instinct of his body telling him to get out of there quick. "The Mother Wisp has become Nega-Mother Wisp!"

"Whoa...! That's Yacker's Mom? She's kinda...Huge!" Sonic cried out in shock with a sweatdrop. The Nega-Mother Wisp had to be at least around the same size as Perfect Chaos, or maybe either smaller or bigger, but definitely dangerous...All because Eggman had stolen so much of her energy which was where he mainly got most of the Hyper-Go-On power in the first place, and now it has transformed her into an uncontrollable monster with powerful negative energy.

No wonder the blue hedgehog had a hard time in finding her. Not only he didn't see this coming, but he hadn't even realized that the mother was the biggest Wisp ever.

"Still, you'd think there would be a _little_ more of a resemblance." He added to himself.

Yacker felt even more horrified with what has happened and began to mournfully cry, knowing that if this was allowed to continue on, all life was gone. He knew there was only one thing to do, but the cute Wisp didn't know what to do considering how his own energy couldn't stop or free her. The other aliens held similar expressions, even the Void Wisp was shocked beyond belief. What also frightened everyone even more was that she was sucking in the debris of the Amusement Park.

"Oooookay...I think she's hungry." Sonic remarked, knowing that the lives of his friends, himself and even Eggman was at stake here, and while he wasn't the villain's number one fan, he had to do something fast.

The Nega-Mother Wisp glowed darkly, with all thoughts of revenge, destruction and hunger was all she felt. Seemingly not yet satisfied in simply devouring the park, she gazed down with her eye-less gaze at the elevator shaft, and towards the group who stared back in increasingly growing fear. Before either one could do anything to move, she roared so loudly that it created a powerful gust of negative wind which began to push Sonic, his friends and Eggman inside his cockpit back. The blue hedgehog and the Wisps tried to shield themselves and tried to stay in place while the evil human doctor held onto his seat for dear life.

Unfortunately it was so strong that the gravity of the shaft was lost and soon Sonic and everyone else were sent falling straight down towards Mobius, screaming. However, before Eggman could even reach half way down, one of the giant tentacles reached out stretching surprisingly and caught him inside his Egg Mobile in a tight grip, much to his horror.

"WOOOOOOAAAAAAAAHHHHH!" Sonic screamed as he felt a flash of deja vu while plummeting down towards the planet. Before he ended up reaching it even half way, Yacker and the aliens, quickly recovering and seeing their friend fall to his demise, flew down and focused on what was left of their powers to save him by creating the protective floating sphere around him and themselves, slowing his descend and simply floating in space.

"#$%$#!" Yacker cried out frantically as the blue hedgehog, who blinked in surprise and realized that he was still alive, looked around to see that the aliens had once again saved him from death.

"Yacker! Guys!" He cried out in relief. But before he could express his gratitude, Sonic and his friends heard Eggman's terrified screams and looked up to see that, to their shock and no small amount of horror, he has been captured and was now being pulled towards the corrupted giant Wisp. Their hearts dropped to their stomachs as they saw what was about to happen.

"Please, don't eat me!" Eggman practically begged, placing his hands together as though he was speaking a prayer. "Can we talk about this?"

"No...! Eggman!" Sonic cried out, and while he wouldn't normally save his enemies, his heart froze up as this was too awfully familiar to him. Memories of a certain nightmare filled his vision, and the moment he thought of it, his eyes widened with a horrified gasp. "This is...just like...!"

* * *

_**Flash-Back: During the events of "Sonic and the Werehog"...**_

_**Sonic's Nightmare...**_

_Sonic gasped as he saw Sun about to bring slam his jaws onto shut with Eggman inside his mouth and quickly looked away, squeezing his eyes shut and unable to look the gruesome fate the evil man was about to meet. But while he wanted to cover his ears to avoid in hearing the dying screams, again his body refused to listen to him. So nothing could stop Sonic from hearing the screams of Eggman which was cut off when Sun closed his jaws, and the blue hedgehog whimpered as he could hear the giant Werehog then chomp and crush his nemesis._

* * *

_**Back in the Present...**_

"...Just like that nightmare, only without the Werehog!" The blue hedgehog exclaimed. He never would've thought that one of his nightmares would actually come true, and even though he was always afraid that his nightmares of Eggman winning and taking over the world would be made a reality, never in his life that Sonic had thought that the nightmare of that would actually come true, but without a certain giant mutant hedgehog.

He turned to the aliens who, not wanting this even against their enemy either, nodded and attempted to float up in hopes of reaching Eggman. But the gusts of wind that blew once again and another tentacle reaching out for them forced Sonic and the Wisps to scream before the latter group flew away with their hedgehog friend, avoiding the corrupted giant alien and as far back from reach as possible. But that meant there wasn't a thing they could do in saving the evil man who was about to meet his doom.

Eggman saw this as well and even from the distance he could see that his enemy looked helpless and terrified, and he knew that screaming for help would not save him from his fate. It was right there and then that he realized that he had done this to himself, and had not heeded Sonic's warning until it was too late. Now he was about to suffer the consenquences of his actions.

"_**At Eggman's Interstellar Amusement Park, you can feel comfortable knowing your safety is our number one priority.**_" His own voice recording spoke within the cockpit, which infuriated him over his own ironic speech. Trapped inside his Mobile and doomed to be devoured, all the evil scientist could do was pound his fists against the glass which was already cracked.

"Oh, _shut uuuuuuuuuuuuup!_" Eggman yelled angrily as he was then tossed right into the giant mouth of the Nega-Mother Wisp, Mobile and all, and that was the last thing he ever said, because the next thing that's happened, the Nega-Mother Wisp inhaled him the rest of the way and slammed her mouth shut with him trapped inside.

Sonic and the Wisps all gasped in absolute horror, colour draining from their faces and their eyes widened. Their hearts froze up as they could do nothing more than watch as the evilly corrupted giant alien had just engulfed their enemy, and then came the dreaded sight and sound of her swallowing him whole.

Dr. Eggman, formally known as Dr. Ivo Robotnik, the would-be ruler of Mobius and the whole universe had it not been for Sonic the Hedgehog...was gone.

"EGGMAN! NOOOOOO!" Sonic screamed, and while he was never friends with his enemy, had always hated him for all the horrible things he's done and had known that he'd never change, the blue hedgehog never thought that the evil doctor's life would end this way.

It has finally happened. Eggman's evil plot backfired on him so hard that he had just destroyed himself. Or rather, it had eaten him alive.

The cobalt teenager was unable to believe that his enemy's life ending would come to this. Never had thought that the man's death would effect him this badly. Before he could even think about of what to do now, the aliens' fearful cries was enough to snap him back to reality and when Sonic looked up, he flinched as the Nega-Mother Wisp roared again, and began to chomp and devour the elevator shaft and to his horror, beginning to reach out for Mobius, and if she succeeds, she will slowly but surely drag the other planets in as well...including her own home world.

"Oh no! At this rate, all of the planets are gonna be eaten!" He cried out in horror. Then, realizing that he was panicking which wouldn't help, as Sonic knew right there and then that he was the only one to set things right, breathed in and out repeatedly to calm down, telling himself and the aliens. "Okay, first off, don't panic."

The blue hedgehog said this after he noticed that they looked just as horrified as he felt. He then thought as quickly as he could, and while Eggman never got the chance to finish what he tried to tell him before the giant corrupted monster broke free, it hadn't taken Sonic long on what the evil man had meant.

In his own words, the reply to the teenager's question was yes, the power of the Chaos Emeralds will overcome the negativity of the Nega-Mother Wisp, but what worried Sonic was that there was a difference between defeating the negative energy of the Emerald's themselves after being used, and using the positive energy against the negative power of the Wisps. But as he closed his eyes to remain calm, his determination to still save the Universe and everyone else, to keep his promise to save Yacker's mother still burned strongly within his heart. So powerful that it drove away his fears, and he knew then that he had to at least try, and if he believed in all of his will power, he can accomplish this.

"#$%$#&$%$#!" Yacker cried out, turning to Sonic who, opening his eyes and quickly glanced at him, that the little alien was screaming away with a pleading look, and while he looked mournful with all hope of saving his mother lost, madly waved at her, then at the planets that were in danger of being destroyed.

Even without Tails' translator, the blue hedgehog knew what he was trying to say.

"You want me to stop her?" He asked, and the curl-headed Wisp nodded. The cobalt hedgehog frowned, but knew there and then that stopping her was the objective and nodded. "Well then, if you want me to stop her, I'll stop her! But I'm also gonna save her! I promise! I know what to do!"

Sonic turned his gaze at the Nega-Mother Wisp who was slowly eating away the elevator shaft, before telling his friends. "Guys, you gotta let me out of your sphere!"

"#%%$!?" The Wisps exclaimed in shock, wondering if he was crazy since if they stopped keeping him afloat, he'll fall. But he gave them a confident smirk.

"Don't worry, I'll be okay. You guys helped me with your positive energies through out this journey, and I can't thank you enough. Now, let me show you what I can do, and leave the rest to me!" Sonic told them, before simply floated and focused by closing his eyes.

As soon as he did, the Chaos Emeralds shone brightly and freed themselves from his quills, and as Yacker and the Wisps' eyes widened in awe, they somehow understood and reluctantly dismissed their power before carefully but quickly floating back away hoping for the best. Thankfully, the power of the Emeralds circled around the blue hedgehog who concentrated on absorbing their powers. He curled up slightly as the energy flowed into his body.

Sonic then burst into golden energy as he uncurled himself, his quills sticking up, his fur golden in colour with a glowing aura, and his eyes ruby red, having become Super Sonic once more. The aliens' eyes widened in awe at the astonishing event as the now golden hedgehog had burrowed the power of the Chaos Emeralds, and it was right there that Yacker remembered his friend tell him about using said power before in the past. The power that like the Hyper-Go-On, can be used for both good and/or evil.

And now Super Sonic was going to use it to stop the Nega-Mother Wisp.

Knowing what to do, and giving his friends a thumbs up, Super Sonic then flew straight towards the Nega-Mother Wisp who, unaware of the event even though she paused slightly when she felt a tingle of warm, unusual and powerful positive energy from close by, continued munching on the elevator shaft, slowly inching closer to Mobius. The golden hedgehog then hovered above her head in a safe distance and let out a loud whistle to get her attention.

"Hey!" Super Sonic called out to her. "Up here!"

The Nega-Mother Wisp stopped chewing up the elevator shaft, and hearing his whistle and voice, turned around to see the glowing golden hedgehog glaring back at her with great courage and determination, showing no fear at all.

"You hungry? How 'bout something more tasty and substantial, like me?" The hero of Mobius taunted, even though he hadn't meant to, he had to draw the corrupted giant alien away from the planets before he can fight her and free her from the negative energy. "Come and get it!"

She took the bait, and with a furious, destructive, and starving snarl as eating Eggman who was the cause for all of this as well as eating metal wasn't enough, because the teenage hedgehog seemed like a perfect meal for her as well.

"_**GRRRRRRRRRRRROOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAARRRR!**_" The Nega-Mother Wisp roared, and flew up towards him.

Super Sonic smirked before turning and quickly flew himself to lead the corrupted giant Wisp away from Mobius, Planet Wisps, Sweet Mountain, Aquarium Park, Starlight Carnival and Asteroid Coaster, giving the scared and worried Yacker and other Wisps a wink, and easily dodged the tentacles that the giant Wisp whipped in her attempts to try and catch him. Once he was certain that they were well away from the six planets, the golden hedgehog spun around and flew right past her in high speed in a trail of gold light before turning again and stopped, glaring up at her as the Nega-Mother Wisp turned with a furious frown, snarling darkly.

What happened next was the beginning of the ultimate real final battle. The Nega-Mother Wisp roared before spitting out multiple but small embers which as Super Sonic flew up towards her while dodging each one, they exploded behind him which made him mentally wince. He'd have to keep dodging them and avoid in getting hit as fast as he could. Then, as though deciding that she was to lure him into a trap of her own, she began flying away which made him grit his teeth in annoyance but went after her none the less. To make things more difficult, she then stopped this attack and then created a bunch of small asteroids similar to the ones in the last world he visited.

Seeing these made his eyes widen as an idea formed into his mind. The golden hedgehog smirked again, hoping that it would work.

"How about this, then!?" Super Sonic shouted, boosting into one of the asteroids really hard and sending it back to the Nega-Mother Wisp, hitting her left tentacle just as she reached out to try and surprise him, only to be surprised herself by his own attack. She roared in pain while withdrawing her tentacle arm. The golden hedgehog they then kept on flying while hitting as many asteroids as possible, and she attempted to repel back, Super Sonic was faster and managed to keep on hitting her until her own attack ran out.

When it seemed like she stopped moving and appeared to be dazed, he used this to his advantage and zoomed straight towards her with a battle-cry to hit her right above the mouth and into where the eyes should be. But as he did, to his shock it didn't do much damage and was sent backwards slightly. Crying out in alarm and being recoiled by his own attack as he spun out of control, Super Sonic quickly corrected his position and hovered in space with wide eyes before flying upward just in case she attacked up front.

"Man, she's got tough skin! Guess I'd better find her weak spot, quick." He thought to himself as he looked for the Nega-Mother Wisp's weakness. It wasn't until the eye-like gynoecium with the pink petals caught his attention. The golden hedgehog then wondered if maybe that was the weak spot. "Only one way to find out."

Super Sonic flew in quickly as the Nega-Mother Wisp recovered enough for her roots to shoot up to try and strike him, but he easily dodged by maneuvering out of the way and then with a yell he hit the eye hard. It worked and the giant corrupted alien roared in pure agony, recoiling downward while the teenage hedgehog flew up out of the way. As he did, he noticed one of the petals fall off and drift into space. This made him realize that if he can make all of the petals disappear, he may have a chance in using the power of positive energy to restore the giant Wisp to normal. He had to make it count and be careful at the same time.

Before the golden hedgehog could attack again, the Nega-Mother Wisp roared which made the same gust of wind as earlier, and Super Sonic tried to stop himself from being blown away, but was sent flying backwards and screamed once more far away from the corrupted alien. By the time the teenager regained his balance, he found himself back to where he started while his opponent fired more ember at him. Reacting quickly to avoid in getting hit, the young Mobian flew up towards her and flew past the fire attacks even though there were lots more than the last time.

"I gotta get back to that eye, fast!" Super Sonic grunted, only to gasp as the tentacles came flying at him and unharmed from the embers, forcing him to dive and fly high to avoid all of the attacks as well as the tentacles from grabbing him, or in this case, eating him since they both head mouths as well.

"Whoa! AH! WOAH!" He cried out while dodging as best as he could, trying really hard not to panic and focus. '_If I'm not careful, I'm hedgehog food!_'

By the time the embers were done, the tentacles almost engulfed him but the golden hedgehog easily dodged again before having another idea as he got closer. Hitting the asteroids to distract her as she roared in pain when her arms were hit repeatedly, Super Sonic managed to keep the arms away from him before flying as fast as he can with the Chaos Energy within him, flying around and around and around the Nega-Mother Wisp who was becoming more and more frustrated that she attempted on chomping him with her mouth, but repeatedly missed.

"I'm sorry! I don't mean to upset you, but I don't have a choice!" The teenage Mobian cried out to it, and while he didn't think that his voice could reach her yet, he had to at least try while he attempted to find a way to return her to normal.

She responded with a threatening growl, the negative emotions making the Nega-Mother Wisp want nothing more than revenge, destruction and everything and everything to devour and will not stop until she got it. The giant corrupted alien attempted to swipe at him with her lower tentacles, but the golden hedgehog flew up and hovered above her before he dove and hit the eye three times as hard as he could while she spun, the Wisp becoming dizzy and roaring in pain at the same time. When Super Sonic flew back up, three more petals were falling off and he attempted to quickly keep on going as he didn't want to hurt her anymore than he was forced to do.

However, the Nega-Mother Wisp, stopped spinning and began to recover but was just as furious now. She roared very loudly which sent out a huge surge of negative winds in every direction that the golden hedgehog had to stop what he was doing. He struggled against the gust while trying to prevent himself from being blown away again. When it seemed to have stopped and he managed to get a glimpse at the giant corrupted alien, Super Sonic gasped in shock as her tentacles seemed to glow with purple energy and she began swiping wildly while flying up straight towards him. This wasn't good at all.

"Uh, oh!" He yelped with a bit of fright, and flew back only to sense something behind him. The golden hedgehog looked over his shoulder and his eyes widened when a purple laser seemed to appear out of nowhere heading straight towards him. His heart hammering in growing panic while he tried to remain calm, Super Sonic flew out of the way only to be hit by a tentacle when the Nega-Mother Wisp successfully caught him off-guard.

The force of it knocked him back as he screamed out in pain and in alarm before righting himself again, hissing while placing a hand to his chest. Super Sonic was pretty certain he'll be having a bruise there for a while if he got out of this fight alive.

"Ow..." The golden hedgehog softly groaned, but as he looked up, his eyes widened as the Nega-Mother Wisp fired more ember and asteroids in her wake, focring him to ignore his injury and fly forward and repeatedly dodge as best as he could, though it was getting more and more difficult as each fire and rock nearly got him quite a number of times, followed by another huge laser aimed at his direction.

As Super Sonic avoided that, he was unfortunately distracted enough for one or two embers to catch him off-guard and was hit hard which caused him to scream in pain at the burns that exploded twice. He nearly began to fell before quickly keeping himself afloat, though he could feel himself become increasingly exhausted and panted, holding his left shoulder that was injured, wincing. It didn't help that his battle against Eggman left him with very little time to recover for this fight and then he began to think that maybe he wouldn't be surviving this. His heart began to become filled with the dread and fear of dying today, but he forced himself to fight those feelings, knowing that he had to do this.

The giant corrupted alien roared as she dove straight towards the teenage hedgehog who saw that she had her mouth wide open and had somehow gotten really close enough that he realized, to his horror, she was going to eat him. Finding himself frozen as he gasped, unable to move out of the way in time as the gripping fear held him in place, his heart stopping for that split second. Then he remembered that he still had the Chaos Energy, and whether it was in his body or one of the Chaos Emeralds, he could still teleport if he was lucky. Bracing himself as he screamed, Super Sonic was soon engulfed into the giant mouth to which the Nega-Mother Wisp closed shut and trapped her prey inside.

"_Chaos Control!_" Super Sonic shouted quickly just as soon as the giant teeth closed around him as he had found himself trapped inside the darkness of the mouth, with his aura being the only light to help him see, and desperately hoped that Chaos Control will get him out, otherwise he had lost and would soon be sucked in and swallowed up to suffer the same fate as Eggman.

Thankfully it worked, as the golden hedgehog vanished from within the mouth seconds before the Nega-Mother Wisp attempted to swallow him. He reappeared safely back outside and right above the giant alien who held a sinister, evil twisted grin as she believed that she had eaten him alive. Super Sonic wasted no more time as he dove right into the eye again, using his Super Spin Dash to attack the same way he did with Dark Gaia's three eyes, resulting the corrupted Wisp to roar in agony and shock, more and more petals falling off as a result with each attack.

By the time he flew back away as the giant monster nearly swiped him with her tentacles again, Super Sonic saw that he was almost there due to being only one petal left. But even as he was almost done with the battle, he was reaching dangerously close to his limit. He only have enough energy left to finish the battle since it had been long and hard, and his last battle exhausted him. It broke his heart knowing that the last of the Chaos Energy would leave him once he finished this battle, because after that, he wouldn't have any at all to get safely home.

"After I save Yacker's Mom, I won't have any strength left to get back. I'll never see my friends again...I guess...I guess going to Eggman's Amusment Park was a one-way trip for me. But hey, at least I can be proud to say that I saved not just my home, but other planets too, and saved the Universe. I got to explore new worlds no one in Mobius have even seen. Got to make friends with aliens that are super friendly and kind and darn cute." Super Sonic told himself as he watched the Nega-Mother Wisp howl in agony and slowly lose more sense in her already enraged and confused state. Tears began to fill his eyes and his heart aching.

But knew that in the end, he had to do this. For the sake of the Universe, for everyone...for his friends. His family. Super Sonic was gonna miss them, but he was very happy to have met them and have them in his life. The freedom he had in being able to run and go on adventures, whether it was solo or with company. Both occasions had been really fun. He loved his home and everybody in his life, and he will be watching over them once he was gone. The golden hedgehog just wished that he could properly say goodbye to them, to tell them everything he wanted to say with all of his heart.

'_This is it. Time to end this._' He thought to himself firmly, powering up as hard as he could with the last of his strength, his will power surging with the thoughts of everyone he loved, the world he was born in, and everything he went through. The teenage hero of Mobius had to make this count with one last attack, even as the Nega-Mother Wisp's eye began to glow in purple as well.

"YACKER'S MOM!" Super Sonic shouted to get her attention with great courage. "Everything's gonna be okay! I'm sorry that you had to suffer like this, that the evil man your kids call Bald Nosehair, who I know as Dr. Eggman, had kidnapped all of you and your home and being used to try and take over the Universe, and everything that's happened in the last few days. I'm really sorry that I didn't find you on time!"

The young Mobian focused hard on his power, while continuing to try and get his words through the corrupted giant alien who was slower in charging up her power as her eye began to glow and get bigger and bigger. He felt himself strained by powering up the last of his burrowed energy, but he ignored it.

"But if you just speak with your heart, if we can relate and communicate, then everything will be okay!" He continued, his golden aura glowing brighter as he charged up. "Don't let the negative energy consume you! Fight it with all the positivity that you still have within you! Think about your beautiful home, all of your children! Think about Yacker! He's been really worried about you, because he loves you! Just as much as you love them!"

The purple energy in the flower only grew as the Nega-Mother Wisp growled, yet Super Sonic's words seemed to have some effect, because the power was weavering and fading. She was slowing down, and deep inside her corrupted shell was the true Mother Wisp who, upon hearing him speak made a mental tear fall. All thoughts of everything she held dear was everything that the young hero had known.

"I promised to return you back to normal, to get you, Yacker and all of the other aliens back to your world so that you can be free again, and that's what I'm going to do! With all of my power!" Super Sonic declared boldly, glowing almost as bright as the sun. "Just hang in there, and I'll free you! Here comes SONIC!"

The Nega-Mother Wisp was about to fire when the golden hedgehog powered up and prepared to launch his final attack. As he did, he allowed a few tears fall free while thinking about the last time he ever saw his best friend/little brother.

'_Tails...I'm sorry. It looks like...I won't be able to see you back on the ground. Or go on another adventure with you like I promised. Heh...I guess...the Amusement Park is the closest we're gonna get. I love you, little buddy. I'll always be with you and everybody else...in your hearts. Sayonara, guys. I'll miss ya's._' The teenager thought, silently crying.

Yet he let a smile form before focusing back on his final task with a frown of determination.

"_CHAOS CONTROL!_" Super Sonic shouted, charging and diving straight towards the giant corrupted alien one more time and even as she fired her laser, he easily cut his way through the most powerful laser even as he grunted against the pressure but managed to dissipate it before boosting his way right into the eye with a shock-wave impact, the power of positive energy from his body spreading onto the giant alien who roared in pure agony with the last petal falling and disappearing.

The attack worked, as the golden hedgehog flew back away to a safe distance in pure exhaustion, while the Nega-Mother Wisp growled in pain and defeat. All of the negative energy that corrupted her began to seep out from her body, a bright light covering her body the same way as the other Nega-Wisps when they returned to normal. The light shone so brightly that Super Sonic had to shield his eyes before it eventually faded. As he weakly looked up panting as he had reached his limit, and while it wouldn't be enough to kill him, he wouldn't have any left to fly back, and would be fated to be floating lost forever in space, which he accepted without any regret.

When the light faded, the Nega-Mother Wisp was gone. The true Mother Wisp had been restored to her true form, a giant pink Wisp with heaps of tentacles, two blue fluffs on her torso, three eyes and lots of antennas on top of her head. She looked a bit tired, but none the less fully restored and much more gentle, all of the negative thoughts gone. In Super Sonic's opinion, she definitely looked like a mother.

He managed to smile in victory and relief as he panted, before the last of his strength finally left him, his eyes closed and he lost consciousness. The young hedgehog fell backwards as the power of the Chaos Emeralds left him, returning him back to normal, blue fur and all. Thus Sonic was unaware that the Mother Wisp, seeing how he had almost sacrificed himself to save her children and home, and had risked his own life to restore her to normal, flew over quickly to catch him, wrapping one of her giant tentacles around his waist and gently held him, lifting him half way to her face.

The giant alien gazed at him with a look of guilt in her eyes, her heart nearly breaking for everything this small, gentle, brave, strong and caring young Mobian had gone through for not just her sake, but also for the sake of her Wisp children. The Mother Wisp felt terrible for the near destruction she'd caused in her enraged state, yet Sonic the Hedgehog was brave enough to confront her and use his own power to restore her back to normal, and to save the Universe.

"$%#$%$%#..." She muttered in Wisp language, as though sympathized with the cobalt hedgehog, carefully caressing him on the head with another tentacle as the unconscious teenager moaned at the gentle touch. A young stranger who had gone out of his way to do the right thing. The complete opposite of the man whom, now inside her stomach, had caused such near disaster.

"#$%#!" A smaller Wisp's voice cried out from the distance, causing the giant pink alien to look up and saw, to her happiness and relief, was Yacker who, along with thousands and thousands of aliens who had been freed, fly over towards her and the unconscious Sonic. The smaller Wisps hovered around her, before they saw the condition that the blue hedgehog was in and all looked horrified and devastated. Yacker and those who had been saved by their hero the most.

The curl-headed alien felt his heart break, hovering over to Sonic as he feared for the worst while calling out to him, hoping that he wasn't dead and was just unconscious. Yacker's eye welled up with tears as he gently nuzzled the cobalt hero's face and then hugged him, beginning to cry. He blamed himself for the blue hedgehog's sacrifice, fearing that he would never get the chance to fully thank him. His mother gently patted him on the head, causing the younger Wisp to tearfully look up as they communicated in their langauge, with the giant alien holding a sympathized but reassuring look in her eyes.

She then gestured her children to follow her as she hovered towards the six planets, mainly to Mobius. Yacker and the other Wisps, looking rather relieved that Sonic may be alright, followed her, only to stop just about in the same spot as where Eggman's Incredible Interstellar Amusement Park was when they heard a loud, dreaded sound behind them. Turning around in alarm, all of the aliens held horrified expressions as the released negative energy from the Mother Wisp, seemingly with a will of it's own, began to form into a large purple implosion, in the size of a black hole.

The Mother Wisp, Yacker and the other aliens, gazing at all of the worlds including both their own and Mobius, and then at the still unconscious hedgehog in the female alien's tentacle, all shared a glance and nodded. Through their own communication, the alien mother gestured Yacker and some of the aliens to take Sonic back to his home planet. Yacker nodded and gestured some of his brothers to help him, before their mother gently let the teenage hero go and letting them use their powers once more, carrying him away while the rest of the aliens turned their attention back to the implosion.

"$#$%$%&%!" The Mother Wisp exclaimed with determination as she and the rest of the gathered Wisps, despite having only just returned to normal, began to glow brightly in colours as they all began to use their powers to block and hold back the forming void that threatened to swallow up everything.

* * *

_'_Where...Where am I? Is this...is this the afterlife?_'_ _The foggy thoughts echoed in Sonic's mind as he felt like he was floating in an emptiness of white light, in a lying position. His eyes were still closed as the cobalt hedgehog felt so tired, yet so in peace. The last thing he remembered was saving the Mother Wisp, returning her back to normal before passing out._

_After that, everything was a blur. Considering how he was floating in nothing but white light all around him, Sonic had figured that he is dead. Maybe in limbo and waiting for angels to find him and carry him off to the other side. Yet somehow he felt like he was being carried by small creatures to somewhere, but couldn't see them._

_Either way, he was relieved that he managed to save the Universe, and everyone in it once more. While he felt sad to leave everyone he loved and the world he was born and grew in behind a lot sooner than he would've liked, Sonic can at least be in peace knowing that they were all safe. Being dead was a scary experience, though. But if what they say is true, then he wouldn't be lonely here. The teenage hedgehog could finally get to see his late Uncle who would greet him and keep him company. Maybe meet his grandparents he never got the chance to._

_"_Sonic..._"_

_"...Huh?" Sonic muttered tiredly, hearing a familiar voice echo, green bright light form above him. Moaning as he slowly opened his eyes, he winced at the brightness before his vision adjusted itself, holding a hand over them to shield it. To his surprise as the light faded slightly, was a near-silhouette of a very familiar and welcoming pixie-dog figure hovering gently over him._

_"_Sonic...It's time to wake up._" He whispered kindly._

_"C-Chip?" The blue hedgehog weakly inquired, wondering if this was a hallucination or a vision, which confused him since his dear friend said that it was time to wake up. If so, would that mean..._

_Before he could ask, he was dismayed that Chip vanished, but the warm smile on Light Gaia's face put Sonic at ease, it sewed his heart back together and the teenage hedgehog couldn't help but smile back before he was blinded by the light and once again his vision blurred..._

* * *

When Sonic was starting to come to, groaning as he regained consciousness even if just briefly, he weakly opened his eyes as he found himself floating in a vast of bright colours. All around him were lots and lots of aliens, some whom he recognized, including Yacker who, gazing at him with great worry, looked utterly relieved that the blue hedgehog was awake which almost instantly told the young hero that he was still alive, and the rest whom he hasn't seen before.

'_Y-Yacker...?_' Sonic thought, seeing that the Wisps were carrying him to safety, straight towards his home planet, before exhaustion got to him again and he passed out, letting the aliens continue their task of taking him away. Fully unaware of what was happening behind him as Yacker and some of the aliens that helped him defeat Eggman flew him straight towards Mobius like a shooting star.

The Wisps carried Sonic all the way back to just behind the small hill where he and Tails had spotted the elevator shaft which was now just a broken building reaching to nothing, and dismissed their magical sphere that protected him, using some of their Hyper-Go-On energy to heal most of his injuries. They gently set him down as he found himself standing on the ground, having regained consciousness fully this time, wobbled a bit and leaned foward, his hands on his knees as he panted.

Yacker and the aliens hovered away a bit to give the blue hedgehog some space to fully recover, and he looked around with his eyes to see that he was, much to his happiness and relief, back on his home planet, alive and well. It nearly brought him to tears that he once again managed to survive the impossible, thanks to his new friends as he had realized that, with some very likely assistance from their mother who, in gratitude, carried him here and let the other aliens do the rest, he managed to keep to his promises after all.

'_...I'm home. Back on Mobius._' Sonic thought to himself happily, as he managed to fight back the urge to simply cry in joy, and instead tiredly smiled at the Wisps with a thumbs up. He couldn't believe that they went out of their way save him. '_Heh, guess we really _do_ have a lot in common._'

"Sonic!"

Blinking and almost instantly his strength returning to him, the blue hedgehog looked up to see Tails fly over towards him with a very relieved expression as fast as he could, utterly happy that his best friend/big brother was safe and sound. Sonic shared that feeling, because seeing his little brother safe as well really had him in tears.

"Hey!" He called back, waving happily. The blue hedgehog waited impatiently as the two-tailed fox landed in front of him and jumped into his arms, nearly toppling the teenager over, but he hugged the eight year old back none the less. The two reunited adoptive brothers laughed emotionally with tears leaking in their eyes. Sonic never felt so happy in his life like he was now, not wanting to let go of his sweet little brother, almost crying as he gently kissed Tails on the head again.

"Oh, Tails..." Sonic whispered softly. '_I thought I'd never see you again._' He wanted to say, but decided against it. When Tails started crying in happiness, his tears soaking the hedgehog's chest, the latter simply rubbed the back of the young kit's head.

"You're back...!" The eight year old sobbed.

"Shhhhh...shhhhh...It's okay, li'l bro. Everything's okay." The fifteen year old soothed comfortingly, holding back his tears. They stayed like this for another moment before reluctantly let go, beaming smiles at one another.

"Are you okay!? Man, I can't believe you made it through that!" Tails exclaimed, wiping away his tears.

"You thought I wouldn't?" Sonic asked jokingly, giving him a wink and smirk.

His best friend shook his head, rubbing the back of his head. "The only thing I was thinking about was getting pushed into an elevator."

"A hedgehog's gotta do what a hedgehog's gotta do." The blue hedgehog replied, rubbing his nose. Before Tails could say anything, the teenager held out his fist, which he smiled happily even further, the two sharing a bro-fist.

"Great job, Sonic." Tails praised.

Sonic smirked. "Thanks. Though I had a little help during the last parts. First with Yacker and the aliens helping me with Eggman, and then the Chaos Emeralds in saving their Mom."

"Huh? Eggman had the Chaos Emeralds?" The two-tailed fox asked, shocked and surprised.

"Yeah, to both try and get rid of me and, well...to hold her back since she went all crazy and, uh..." As he trailed off, the blue hedgehog suddenly remembered what happened before his fight against the Nega-Mother Wisp as the full realization dawned onto him. He then sighed as his smirk faded into a look of sadness. "I guess he kinda figured that I'd be able to turn her back to normal, even if he didn't want that to happen."

"Speaking of Eggman, where is he?"

Sonic winched a bit, scratching the back of his head uncomfortably. "I know that it wasn't her fault that she was all negatively crazy but...She...she broke out of the basement he trapped her in and when the whole place fell part, she freed herself and...had him for lunch."

"What!?" Tails exclaimed in shock, his eyes widening in disbelief. "You mean he's...!?"

"Yes...He's gone. No one will ever see him again. It's even worse that he did it to himself and his plan backfired on him so much that it finally destroyed him." The blue hedgehog said, rubbing his arm as he still felt shaken by the evil man's untimely demise. He sighed and admitted. "I was never his biggest fan, but...I didn't think him being gone like this would feel so...I-I dunno."

His younger friend stared at him in full disbelief, almost blanching at the thought of Eggman being eaten by the Nega-Mother Wisp. "Whoa...I dunno what to think of that, either. I mean, I can't blame Yacker's Mom for that either, it's still...really scary."

The blue hedgehog gave him a sad smile, and gently ruffed his head which made the eight year old blink as the teenager said. "Hey, anybody who says that they want to be eaten would be way beyond crazy and out of their minds. Even Egghead wasn't that crazy."

"Yeah..." Tails muttered, giving out his own sad smile.

"On the bright side, at least we don't have to worry about him anymore." Sonic added, turning to stare at the sky, only for both of them to blink in surprise to finally notice the display that was happening while Yacker and the other Wisps had quickly gone back to help their mother and the rest of the aliens to hold back the black hole that was forming but thankfully beginning to disappear.

The curl-headed Wisp and his mother, using their powers to gather the now freed Hyper-Go-On since Eggman's Nega-Wisp Armor was destroyed, and turned the rest of the Nega-Wisps back to normal before they all banded together. With their great powers, the implosion that was the size of the Mother Wisp was gone before it could fully be formed.

Back on the ground, Sonic and Tails watched on in awe as the former let out a whistle, saying. "Didn't see that one coming."

Before his best friend could reply, the two Mobians heard a familiar girl's voice calling out Sonic's name, making the blue hedgehog flinch, his quills sticking up and making him stand on the tips of his shoes once again before they looked over their shoulders to see, not just Amy who was charging straight them happily, but to their surprise, Cream and Cheese, Shadow and Omega(which made Sonic relieved that they made it out before the destruction happened), and surprisingly both Knuckles and Rouge who came at them unhurriedly

"Oh, Sonic! You're okay!" Amy exclaimed happily, nearly glomping Sonic over as she hugged him tightly before he could make a run for it.

"Whoa! A-Amy! N-Not so tight, please! You're crushing me here!" The blue hedgehog struggled to push her back, even though he was happy to see her and everyone else again. To his relief, she loosened her grip on him, though she did snuggle her head against his chest.

"My sweet, brave hero! I knew you'd come back safe and sound!" The pink hedgehog hummed happily, her eyes leaking with tears.

"I'm not surprised to see you and cutie-Tails still alive and kicking, big blue. Had any trouble getting back?" Rouge asked, smirking.

Sonic smirked back. "Well, sort of. All things considered, everything's back to normal. Better even."

"What're you guys doing here?" Tails asked, curiously.

"I was heading back to Angel Island after spending hours trying to find her and having spend the night at Tropical Resort, when I saw the entire Amusement Park begin to explode and a huge monster appear. Then I saw Sonic having used the Chaos Emeralds to chase it away, so I came here to see if he made it." Knuckles explained.

"Which he is." Shadow scoffed, rolling his eyes. "Omega and I weren't back here for even ten minutes before the whole place began breaking down. Care to explain why?"

"Long story." The blue hedgehog shrugged, adding as Amy finally let him go. "All in all, I turned Yacker's Mom back to normal and, given that huge black hole from the negative energy, I think it was the same that I freed her from with the Chaos Emeralds, which is also part of said story."

"Mr. Yacker's Mother was that monster?" Cream asked curiously, surprised, and she wasn't the only one. Amy, Knuckles, Shadow and Rouge held stunned expressions while Omega held a look as though he was blinking in surprise and confusion.

"Sounds like it's a very long story." Amy remarked, and both Sonic and Tails nodded in agreement.

Sonic then turned to Knuckles and couldn't help but tease. "Were you worried that I'd end up a goner?"

"Hey, I told you yesterday. I'd never forgive myself if anything happened to you." The red echidna replied with a smirk, before quickly adding. "But I knew that you'd be fine. As always."

"Awwww...Just admit it, Knuckie. You were worried about big blue." Rouge teasingly cooed with a giggle, which made Amy, Cream, and Tails giggle while Sonic covered his mouth to stop himself from bursting into a hysterical laughter. Cheese giggled while Shadow just rolled his eyes at the scene.

"HEY!" Knuckles protested, his muzzle glowing pink in embarrassment, and blurted out without thinking. "I was not worried! And don't think you're off the hook, you batty thief! You still owe me for that letter you sent!"

"_You_ tricked Knuckles to go to the Amusement Park?" Amy asked, her eyes wide in disbelief, before giggling even further. "And here I thought it was Eggman, given on what you said about spending the night at Tropical Resort."

Then realizing what she said, the pink hedgehog turned to her 'boyfriend' and asked with some hope. "Speaking of which, did you give him the clobbering he deserved?"

"I gave him a ten-time clobbering and then some. I'm just sorry that you guys can't give it to him now." Sonic replied, sighing as he bit his lip, again not looking forward in giving out the news but he hid it with a shrug. "Especially since he's out of the picture for good."

"Huh?" Amy, Cream and Knuckles all echoed, surprised and at first confused, before realizing what the blue hedgehog meant given the words he said, and the expression he and, to them, mostly Tails held. Shadow on the other hand, while stunned by the news, didn't seem that surprised on what his rival was saying.

"So he's gone, then." The black hedgehog stated. Sonic nodded to confirm it.

"**That does not compute.**" Omega stated, sounding disappointed in not being able to annihilate the evil scientist himself.

"Sorry, Omega. I know you wanted to get rid of him, but uh...super, long story." The blue hedgehog shrugged apologetically, before hearing a tinkering sound and looked up behind him as he and the others saw Yacker fly back down towards them. The cute little alien, to which Amy and Cream both cooed at just how adorable he was, looked so happy that it was contagious and Sonic and most of his friends found themselves smiling.

While Sonic had a feeling he knew what Yacker was saying, Tails had pulled out his translator and read on what the cutest Wisp was saying, translating to everyone, mainly to the blue hedgehog. "Uh, he said _'Thank you for saving us and Mama.'_"

"Mama?" Rouge and Shadow chorused in surprise, the latter having raised an eyebrow.

"He think he means Yacker's mother." Amy whispered in her attempt to explain.

"You're welcome." Sonic replied to Yacker with a grin and a bow, before replying. "Thank YOU for saving us!"

Yacker waved a tentacle as he responded in Wisp language, which Tails translated, for once very clearly this time. "He says _'You are welcome'_."

"That thing's translating pretty well." The blue hedgehog remarked, amazed that it didn't sound silly or in gibberish this time.

The two-tailed fox nodded happily as he explained, "Yeah, I finally got all the kinks out. We can talk to them perfectly now."

"It's really nice to meet you, Yacker. I'm Amy Rose." Amy spoke up smiling brightly.

"My name is Cream, and this is my friend Cheese the Chao." Cream introduced herself, and Cheese squealled happily. She then introduced the others. "And they're Knuckles, Shadow, Rouge and Omega."

"Yeah, we already met." Knuckles pointed out with folded arms, while Rouge gave her own hello, Omega said his greetings, and Shadow simply shrugged with a soft 'Hi', which had Sonic roll his eyes at the ultimate lifeform's way of greeting but said nothing and just smiled.

After Tails translated Yacker's friendly greeting to those the latter hasn't met yet, the little alien then explained something else to which the two-tailed fox translated to Sonic. "Yacker says that _'Mama asked me to thank you for her, and that she was worried when our planets were pulled away after Baldy Nosehair appeared'_."

Amy and Cream both giggled at the mention of Eggman's newest nickname, while Rouge laughed, Shadow smirked in amusement and Knuckles went into a hysterical laughter, with the pink hedgehog breathing. "I-I still can't get over just how funny that new name for Eggman is...Ha ha ha!"

"I wish you could've seen his face when I called him Baldy McNosehair as I fought him! Ha ha ha ha ha ha!" Sonic laughed while Tails giggled. "It was awesome!"

"A-anyway," Amy giggled as she and everyone else began to settle down, smiling warmly. "You really have a nice mother, Yacker."

"Just like my mother." Cream added happily.

Yacker blushed, before saying something again.

"Whoa...! He says that _'Mama gave us life and raised us. She even made the planet we live on'_." Tails translated in awe, which shocked and amazed Sonic and everyone, glancing up at Yacker while the blue hedgehog glanced back and forth between the small alien and up to where Mother Wisp, who by now was hovering patiently and in a safe distant to avoid in being seen by the rest of Mobius, was waiting with the rest of the Wisps, and then back to Yacker.

"No way!" Knuckles exclaimed in disbelief.

"Wow! A whole planet!?" Amy exclaimed in awe.

"Whoa...What a feat." Sonic remarked with wide eyes, blinking. He then said to Yacker with a sweatdrop. "You'd better not do anything to get on her bad side."

"You can say that again." Rouge muttered under her breath, almost speechless herself. "Colour me impressed, 'cause that's one strong and loving mother."

Even Shadow was surprised. "Unbelievable. She is incredible."

Yacker chirped again and whirled around, gesturing up at his mother, family and even his home along with the other four planets were peacefully floating. Seeing this made Sonic feel sad as he knew what this meant. Deep down he knew that the time has come, but in the end, it was for the best. He'll deeply miss Yacker, especially having almost lost him forever, but he was happy that the curl-headed alien along with the rest were finally safe and free.

"Oh great." Tails groaned in sadness. "He says, _'I won't. Mama and I have to go now. Goodbye my friends'_."

"Awwww. Already?" Cream sighed, sad and disappointed.

"Chao..." Cheese moaned in sadness.

"Oh, we only just met." Amy echoed.

"Just when I got this thing working." The two-tailed fox sighed while gazing at his machine.

Sonic shrugged sadly, but he assured his friends. "Better late than never in both occasions, buddy."

"He has a point. They have to go home sooner or later." Knuckles agreed, even though he wished he could've gotten to know the Wisps a bit better. Shadow and Rouge both nodded, while Omega responded by his usual '**Affirmative**'.

"Hey, could ya' tell your Mom that I said thank you to her for me?" The blue hedgehog asked Yacker, who nodded and no one needed the translator to say that he will tell his mother. The cute alien held a very emotional look as even he knew that the time has come to part ways. Sonic smiled emotionally and held up his hands warmly, and Yacker immediately flew into his arms for a final embrace. Tails joined in as the three friends shared their last group hug with tears leaking in their eyes, and the other Mobians held different reactions but all smiled none the less. Amy and Cream both looked ready to cry, Rouge wiped away a tear, Knuckles sighed and tried not to shed a tear, even Shadow's expression softened.

"We'll miss you, buddy. But we'll always be friends. Remember that." Sonic whispered to the curl-headed Wisp.

"Don't forget about us, okay?" Tails added, sniffling.

They stayed like this until the trio reluctantly let go with emotional smiles, before Wisp then held up his arm, and while everyone else looked confused, Sonic knew what this mean and cheered with a wide smile.

"Right on!"He cheered and jumped into the air, happily giving Yacker a high-five, and Tails, seeing this did the same with the cute alien who giggled. Everyone else smiled happily(except Shadow who simply smirked, Rouge who folded her arms with a smile, and Omega who stood there) before the two young heroes landed on the ground and the Wisp flew around them squealing, shaking hands with Cheese who beamed happily, and they each gave their goodbyes to the little aliens.

"You take care, Yacker." The blue hedgehog told his alien friend with a smile. "Make sure you and Mom don't get separated again, 'kay?"

Yacker nodded and with a single tear formed in his eye, waved a goodbye for the final time to Sonic and Tails, and to their friends before he flew back up to reunite with his mother and family. The Mobians back in their world watched as the Wisps, including the Mother Wisp who waved a goodbye to the young heroes who have saved them all, flew back to their home planet before they all used their powers to not just magically transport Planet Wisp back to where it came from, but also Sweet Mountain, Starlight Carnival, Aquarium Park and Asteroid Coaster back to their places and galaxies in the Universe, vanishing from sight.

Sonic and his friends, while saddened to see the aliens off, all smiled in relief and happiness as peace as finally been restored. Not just to the five planets that have gone through so much, but their own as well. The blue hedgehog gazed at the sky with a content expression on his face, before blinking in confusion as something caught his eye. For a split second, he saw the familiar pixie-thing, faintly floating who gave him a wave and a smile before vanishing from sight, to which he realized for the final time.

Sonic was surprised to have seen what he thought was a hallucination of Chip, but then smiled as he knew, right there and then, that he was finally healed from within. After four long years of conflict, and while the ending wasn't what he had in mind, he'd take what he was given. Mobius was finally free from the terrors of Eggman. The blue hedgehog had conquered his own fears and doubt from the last two months. He, with the help of his friends, saved the Universe from devastation. Yacker was finally reunited with his mother, and had returned home.

The blue hedgehog was free himself. Free of his enemy forever. It would take a while for the teenager to get used to the idea of not having to worry about the evil scientist ever again, but he'll get over it.

'_Thank you, Chip. Even though you weren't really there, you guided me along with my friends. And Yacker...I'll never forget you. I'll always be with you, reaching out for the stars._' Sonic thought to himself as he smiled warmly, feeling true peace and a new sense of freedom.

"Sonic. Are you okay?" Tails asked, tugging the cuff of his best friend's glove as he and the others noticed the blue hedgehog's silence.

"Yeah, I'm fine." Sonic replied, smiling down at his little brother. "Guess I was...speaking with my heart."

His friends all looked confused by this statement, but all smiled as the blue hedgehog chuckled, giving them a thumbs up and a wink. He had a lot to tell them, and he really couldn't wait to share his and Tails' story of their adventure before Sonic and everyone else returned their gaze to the sky, as the day was slowly coming to an end.

With a new one on the horizon. The beginning of a brighter future.

* * *

**A/N: The wraps up the chapter! The Epilogue is up next and thus ending the story all together! I know none of you were expecting the demise of Eggman this way, but this is a "AU" story, so Sonic is finally free of him. Both here and in another story series he is in(The Sonic characters make their debut in "Sailor Moon Continuum-Hydaelyn Saga"-The third Saga of the Continuum series).**

**See you later!**


	20. Epilogue: Sonic's Next Adventure

**Author's Note: In response to how the last chapter was, I'm deeply sorry about how Eggman's demise turned out despite that this story played out differently. So to make it up for it, after the Epilogue, an Alternate Ending may be written depending on what you guys think of this.**

**By the way, this chapter will be a spoiler to a certain OC(which I own) who will make a cameo appearance.**

**I do not own Sonic The Hedgehog. All rights belong to Sega.**

* * *

_Epilogue: Sonic's Next Adventure._

_Three days later..._

The first day of knowing that Mobius was at long last free from the terror of Eggman had been very strange for everyone, especially for Sonic who, after celebrating at his and Tails' house with their friends(including Shadow and Omega surprisingly) which included the Chaotix, told everyone of what happened at the now defunct Amusement Park. While shocked by the news, everyone else didn't know what to really feel at first apart from the new sense of freedom, knowing that they didn't have to worry about their enemy ever again.

First night though had been a struggle. The cobalt hedgehog dreamt that the evil scientist fused with Yacker's Mother and transformed into a monster to the point that the teenager actually woke up screaming around 2:AM and Tails checked up on him, worried that something was wrong. After apologizing profusely for having accidentally woken up his best friend/little brother, Sonic decided to let the eight year old fox sleep with him, somewhat shaken but relaxed after a little while.

The second hadn't been so bad as Sonic distracted himself with spending a day out with Tails, Amy, Cream and Cheese and even visited Knuckles on Angel Island...after helping the echidna to get the Master Emerald back from Rouge who's stolen it again. The second hadn't been horrifying either, though he did wake up in cold sweat but thankfully not screaming. However, Tails' had a nightmare of the blue hedgehog's death for not coming home, and the hero of Mobius gave him much comfort and love that his little brother needed, and the two-tailed fox calmed down since then.

Today, Sonic decided that in order to fully gain the new sense of freedom, he would keep to his promise to Tails and they would go on their next adventure like they talked about almost a week back. After they had their planned lunch of Chili Dogs and Pizza for dinner the night before, the two best friends were now flying in the Tornado 1 high in the bright blue sky, passing by white fluffy clouds towards their next destination, with the blue hedgehog standing on the top wing of the plane as usual, enjoying the sense of freedom, while Tails was happily piloting happily as well.

"Ah...This is definitely living." Sonic remarked, stretching his arms out and smiled at the wonderful cool breeze that flew onto his face and into his quills. "Isn't it great, Tails? No Eggman to worry about, no giant killer robots, no one getting hurt. Just you and me on another great adventure."

"You said it." Tails replied, before admitting. "Still...It's kinda strange that Eggman isn't around anymore. I still can't believe that he's...gone just like that."

The teenage hedgehog fell silent on that for a moment, his smile fading into a small frown of uncertainty as he folded his arms. "Hmmm...Yeah, it is really weird not having to worry about him. To tell the truth, I kinda feel guilty for not being able to save him, no matter how evil he was..."

As he scratched the side of his face, Sonic sighed in sadness and decided to admit it. "Okay, I feel really terrible for not being able to save him, but at the same time, I know if I did, he'd most likely go with another evil plot and I'm scared to think that he'll come up with something much worse to the point that I won't be able to defeat him. It's...complicated, I know."

He then gazed down at his friend with a sad smile and shrug. "I mean, not even Eggman deserved to be eaten by a crazy possessed mother, even if how she ended up that way was his own fault."

"I guess you're right." The two-tailed fox nodded in agreement, before asking in worry. "You're not gonna end up like you did the last time, are you? I don't you to end up the way what happened during our last adventure, or hallucinate."

"Don't worry, bro. I won't. It'll just take a while to get used to this, but I'm not gonna let that get to me, and I won't let guilt, fear and sorrow eat me alive again unless I really make a mess of something or if I can't save you and anybody else. I promise." Sonic reassured, his smile warming up as he quickly regained confidence and winked at his best friend with a thumbs up, and he meant one what he said.

That made Tails feel better as he returned the warm smile, "I know you'll keep your promise. You always do, and I'm never gonna doubt you again."

Sonic chuckled and the two friends shared another nod with beaming smiles before they broke through the clouds, and their expressions turned to that of awe as they were reaching their destination, somewhere that the blue hedgehog has never seen before. A huge continent of vast and beautiful landscapes, with fields of green grass and colourful flowers, mountains that looked almost violet with snow, in the far distance a gorgeous looking city that had a modern mixture with a cottage village feeling to it, with buildings having pot plants on their balconies, and a huge clock tower resembling to that of London and in another place unheard of, and other far off places that looked tons of fun to explore stretched out far and wide.

* * *

Unaware to the duo, on top of the clock tower was a familiar former dark-blue hedgehog, now orange in fur colour with a scar on his right cheek left behind by one of the monsters during his and Sonic's adventures together, leaning against the wall behind him on the hedge just in front and below the clock gazing out at the sight before him.

Sun the Hedgehog, having spent his time looking for his place in the world after being freed from his curse and made a real Mobian. He had his arms folded as a familiar plane from the far distance caught his eye, which both were still violet, and he still wore his green sneakers. Though who was on top of the plane was what caught his attention and he couldn't help but smirk.

"I didn't think we could be seeing each other again sooner than I thought, Sonic. Then again, you've always been one for adventures. Wonder what you and Tails have been up to in the last two months." Sun muttered to himself.

He decided to meet up with them when they reach the city he was currently in. But for now, seeing where they were going first in this region, he decided to let them have their fun before they would all meet up and catch up on things, because little did the orange hedgehog know, was that he was about to hear the story of Sonic's greatest adventure.

* * *

"Wow! There's the continent of Isalenna." Tails breathed in awe, his blue eyes sparkling at the sight. "I've never seen anything like it!"

The blue hedgehog whistled as he agreed with an excited smile. "You and me both, Tails. It's beautiful! I can't wait to check this place out! Let's try out that field first."

"Roger that, bro!" The two-tailed fox saluted, and after telling his best friend to hang on, which he can easily do, the eight year old kit descended down towards the beautiful fields of Sunshine Zone, making a perfect landing just outside of the field's entrance itself to avoid in ruining the grass and flowers.

Sonic and Tails climbed off and out of the Tornado 1 and observed their new surroundings, the sight before them much more beautiful up close than it was from above. There were sparkling rivers and lakes with birds happily taking drinks from, the leaves in the trees blew very gently in the breeze, everything that was a perfect picture for a lover of nature. The two adoptive brothers gazed around in awe and wonder, before a violet butterfly gently landed on top of the blue hedgehog's nose, surprising him as he blinked while trying to get a good look at it.

The two-tailed fox noticed this and tried to hide his giggles behind his hands, while the cobalt hedgehog smiled awkwardly before gently holding up his hand as the butterfly, apparently sensing this, hopped off of his nose and onto his extended finger so that he could get a good look at it.

"I guess this is the welcome committee." Sonic remarked, smiling fully as he and his little brother gazed at the butterfly before it flew away high up to continue it's own journey of adventures.

"I think the butterfly was really curious of you, Sonic." Tails thought as the duo watched it leave.

"Think you're right." The blue hedgehog agreed, before gazing at his best friend with an excited and happy look on his face. "You ready, Tails? Our next adventure awaits us."

"Ready when you are!" The eight year old replied enthuiastically.

Sonic grinned, cheekily announcing. "In that case...Race ya! Last one to wherever the road leads us is a rotten Eggman!"

Before Tails could respond, his adoptive hedgehog older brother took off running in high speed, causing the two-tailed fox to laugh while quickly flying after him with his two tails spinning, calling out. "Right behind ya!"

As they playfully raced through the beautiful fields of the place that was very new to them, Sonic laughed happily and in pure excitement, as he enjoyed the breeze as he ran, the sun's warmth shining down upon him and his best friend/little brother. The wonderful scenery that made him think about the one he fixed up inside his heart and he knew then that nature was part of him as well. To make things better, he hasn't had a single hallucination of the Werehog at all since before shutting off the last generator, and he always thought about the good times he had with Chip and Sun.

Just as he always thought about the friends he had with him, and the blue hedgehog never took them for granted, and he never will. Sonic embraced his life to it's fullest, the love he had for his freedom, his home, and most importantly, his friends who had become his family through out the years, having changed his life for the better, and while they do tend to have their fights and/or arguments once and a while, that would never break apart the bond they shared.

"WOOOOO HOOOOO!" Sonic cheered happily as he ran, and Tails flew right beside him, the latter laughing in excitement. "YEAH! Look out, Isalenna! Sonic the Hedgehog and Tails are about to see ya!"

Sonic and Tails continued to race through the new region where they would be facing their next adventure, meeting new friends and unknowingly meeting up with an old one to give more brighter memories, new ones to be made.

One journey was over, but for Sonic the Hedgehog, a new one was about to begin.

**THE END**

**...Or is it?**

* * *

Somewhere deep in a very unusual place far beyond where anyone could reach, in the sky was in the light of dawn, trees were black with violet coloured leaves, the ground looked rather dry despite the blue looking grass that looked fresh, and buildings that looked spooky and carved with tunnels leading to underground somewhere, was the familiar Egg Mobile that was out of fuel with it's occupant inside, supposedly to have died but by out of sheer luck, managed to survive and somehow found himself in this place.

Dr. Eggman, who had somehow managed to escape the Nega-Mother Wisp's stomach and found himself in an alien-like world in another part of the Universe. While he had very little idea on how he found himself in this place when he was meant to have met his doom via digestion, all he could think about was just Sonic the Hedgehog had defeated him again, and his own plan backfired to the point that he had no idea how to get back to Mobius.

Not to mention that he was stuck with the last company of five useless robots he wanted to be with right now.

"Faster, you idiots! Faster!" Eggman shouted at his minions, Decoe, Becoe, Bokkun, Orbot and Cubot who, in their attempts to evacuate themselves from the now destroyed Amusement Park, had also fallen victim to the corrupted giant alien's wrath and had been the first ones to find themselves in this unusual world. "The sooner we find the source of this place to get back to Mobius, the better! Put your backsides into it!"

"E-easier said than...done, doctor." Becoe panted, pushing as hard as he could as he and his other robot companions pushed rundown Mobile on the ground since it couldn't fly at the moment, let alone move. "T-this thing is...way too heavy."

"And Technically, we don't have backsides, boss." Orbot piped up, not even making the effort in pushing the evil scientist's ride.

"I'm exhausted..." Decoe complained, feeling a strain in his metal parts. "I wanna go home..."

Bokkun groaned as he could barely fly himself, whining. "Ooooh! I think I pulled a joint in my back, and my arms are killing me."

That really didn't put Eggman in any better mood as he shouted angrily at them. "I don't care! Quit complaining and just push! We have to hurry! The sooner we learn how the negative energy within the Nega-Mother Wisp's stomach created a portal that led us here, the better we can learn it's connection to this new planet."

"Are you sure it's not the Underworld we've been punished to go to?" Decoe asked doubtfully. "I mean, unless it's the case of that silly story of Pinocchio, there's no way anybody would survive digestion, and robots have a much less than zero of a chance of staying function."

"Since when was there a Silicon Underworld for robots? That kind of Silicon Heaven stuff is made up from that comedy TV show everybody seems to like!(1)" Becoe pointed out in annoyance with a skeptical look.

"For all we know, we're stuck in another dimension where there's nobody around." Bokkun grumbled in annoyance.

"Maybe for now, but we _will_ _return_! That fool Sonic thinks I'm gone for good, and while I do admit I thought I was as good as dead back there, it's pure luck that we survived to be here. This is my chance to get my next revenge on that infuriating hedgehog!" The evil doctor replied to Bokkun and ignoring what both Decoe and Becoe said since both sounded like complete nonsense.

"Of course you will get Sonic next time, boss!" Orbot praised as convincingly as possible, even though almost everyone else knew that he was being just as sarcastic as ever. He then muttered silently to himself, "Assuming we get out of this place without the Chaos Emeralds or whatever else we find...if we do not get destroyed by whoever runs this place."

The only one who didn't get the sarcasm was Cubot who, while pushing as well, was thinking more about how his voice has returned to him.

"I feel like my old self again! All I wanna do is talk, talk, TALK!" The yellow cube-shaped robot exclaimed happily, before asking his fellow robots. "Hey, remember when we were chasing those alien guys? What's up with those guys, anyway? They sure were funny looking. Smelled good, though."

"You can't smell anything! You can't even taste or even open your mouth!" Bokkun angrily pointed out, which was only annoying their creator to the point of hopeless and dismay.

"Ugh..." Eggman complained as he slumped in his chair in frustration, gazing up at the sky from within the Egg Mobile, silently pleading to himself. "What I wouldn't give for the maddening silence of a wasteland about now."

All the while Cubot continued rambling on and on and on ad nauseam as the other robots just listened and pushed, with the first three groaning in dismay with sweatdrops, mentally wishing for their stupidest companion to simply shut up, and Orbot simply just leaned and hovered against the Egg Mobile with a care in the world.

Unknown to Eggman and his remaining robots, high above one of the darkest buildings of the city of the unknown world, was a figure of a tall person in a black cloak, long tentacle arms in snake skin, black boots with laces in snake designs, his hood covering his face, except a trace of a large skin, dinosaur like muzzle, if not of a T-Rex's head, it's teeth shown as he breathed deeply, observing the new strangers slowly approaching.

"Another evil one has arrived." The figure spoke in a deep-ish male voice, seemingly emotionless at first. However, he did frown as he muttered to himself in a hint of concern. "Yet, the more arrive, the more those who have been punished by the chosen of the Emeralds of Light and Darkness will make their escape."

This has gone on for far too long. If something wasn't done soon, all was lost. He gazed up at the dawn sky. "I can only hope that the abominations of Time, those who seek destruction or assurance of Time itself, both here in the Prison of Evil, and in the Universe, does not get destroyed, do not seek or escape their places. If they do, then our only hope is for the chosen one to return that corrupted Tribe Leader back here and save all existence."

Because he knew that if the foretold prophecy comes true...then all those of evil that have been brought here for all eternity shall be released and wreck havoc across all worlds.

This was just the beginning of the greatest challenges for those in the outside world if things get out of control in this one...

Especially for Sonic the Hedgehog and his friends who remain unaware of this world.

**THE END?**

* * *

**A/N: Thus ends the story of Sonic and the Power of the Wisps, and whether I do end up going a different version of Sonic Generations(but not Lost Worlds or Forces, sorry fans of those games) or not, think of a new original story or not is left to debate. Haven't figured it out yet, but I scrapped the original Epilogue I had for Eggman due to the dislike of what happened to him in the last chapter and made a similar one instead.**

**Oh and whether I do make an Alternate Ending or not is entirely based on what you guys think after reading this chapter.**

**Thank you all for following this journey and liking this story. I will eventually finish the prequel to it(Sonic and the Werehog) one day, but until then, farewell for now my friends, and we shall meet again.**

**Remember to reach for the stars and speak with your hearts. Goodbye!**


	21. Alternate Ending: For better or Worse

**Author's Note: I know that the Epilogue was the last chapter, and had showed Eggman's survival, but it's not as much as a "What if" ending. It's more leading into future sequels that I may eventually end up doing, one being a different version of Generations that is similar to that game but in more my-ish style. The other after that will be an all new original Sonic story.**

**Plus this idea was bugging me and I wanted to write something before my Flu-Shot tomorrow. Anyway, here it is. It's mostly the same as chapter 19, but with some differences. Not the first time I did this, the first being when I made an alternate ending of one of my Kingdom Hearts fanfics 'The Betrayal of Light'.**

**But anyway, enjoy!**

**I do not own Sonic The Hedgehog. All rights belong to Sega.**

* * *

_Alternate Ending: For better or Worse._

"Whoa...! That's Yacker's Mom? She's kinda...Huge!" Sonic cried out in shock with a sweat-drop. The Nega-Mother Wisp had to be at least around the same size as Perfect Chaos, or maybe either smaller or bigger, but definitely dangerous...All because Eggman had stolen so much of her energy which was where he mainly got most of the Hyper-Go-On power in the first place, and now it has transformed her into an uncontrollable monster with powerful negative energy.

No wonder the blue hedgehog had a hard time in finding her. Not only he didn't see this coming, but he hadn't even realized that the mother was the biggest Wisp ever.

"Still, you'd think there would be a _little_ more of a resemblance." He added to himself.

Yacker felt even more horrified with what has happened and began to mournfully cry, knowing that if this was allowed to continue on, all life was gone. He knew there was only one thing to do, but the cute Wisp didn't know what to do considering how his own energy couldn't stop or free her. The other aliens held similar expressions, even the Void Wisp was shocked beyond belief. What also frightened everyone even more was that she was sucking in the debris of the Amusement Park.

"Oooookay...I think she's hungry." Sonic remarked, knowing that the lives of his friends, himself and even Eggman was at stake here, and while he wasn't the villain's number one fan, he had to do something fast.

The Nega-Mother Wisp glowed darkly, with all thoughts of revenge, destruction and hunger was all she felt. Seemingly not yet satisfied in simply devouring the park, she gazed down with her eye-less gaze at the elevator shaft, and towards the group who stared back in increasingly growing fear. Before either one could do anything to move, she roared so loudly that it created a powerful gust of negative wind which began to push Sonic, his friends and Eggman inside his cockpit back. The blue hedgehog and the Wisps tried to shield themselves and tried to stay in place while the evil human doctor held onto his seat for dear life.

Unfortunately it was so strong that the gravity of the shaft was lost and soon Sonic and everyone else were sent falling straight down towards Mobius, screaming. For Eggman, he tried to control his Egg-Mobile but couldn't because he was repeatedly hitting and spinning and trapped inside, not to mention that he was mostly upside down. He then noticed a tentacle reach out towards him and screamed loudly before desperately shoving his entire body into his seat to try and turn it the right way up.

All he ended up doing was shoving it slightly so that the Nega-Mother Wisp's arm instead whacked him so hard that he ended up going even faster towards Mobius.

"WOOOOOOAAAAAAAAHHHHH!" Sonic screamed as he felt a flash of deja vu while plummeting down towards the planet. Before he ended up reaching it even half way, Yacker and the aliens, quickly recovering and seeing their friend fall to his demise, flew down and focused on what was left of their powers to save him by creating the protective floating sphere around him and themselves, slowing his descend and simply floating in space.

"#$%$#!" Yacker cried out frantically as the blue hedgehog, who blinked in surprise and realized that he was still alive, looked around to see that the aliens had once again saved him from death.

"Yacker! Guys!" He cried out in relief. But before he could express his gratitude, Sonic and his friends heard Eggman's terrified screams and looked up to see that the evil man was flying straight towards him. Sonic and the Wisps yelped, but blinked in surprise that the villain fell past them and continued on towards the planet.

"This is NOT my day!" Eggman could be heard screaming as he held on for dear life. The evil scientist felt not only terrified for his own life considering he was about to crash land into Mobius, but also frustrated and furious that Sonic had defeated him yet again.

"_**At Eggman's Interstellar Amusement Park, you can feel comfortable knowing your safety is our number one priority.**_" His own voice recording spoke within the cockpit, which infuriated him over his own ironic speech. Trapped inside his Mobile and about to experience another humiliating and painful landing, all the evil scientist could do was pound his fists against the glass which was already cracked.

"Oh, _shut uuuuuuuuuuuuup!_" Eggman yelled angrily as he continued to fall straight towards the planet until he couldn't be seen.

"...And there he goes." Sonic concluded in exasperation. While he had meant on what he said to the evil man, and he did feel a tad worried that he wouldn't survive, the blue hedgehog had a powerful feeling that the scientist will be fine. As usual.

Yacker and the other aliens stared on in shock, glancing at the cobalt hero who shrugged awkwardly and said. "It may not look it, but he'll be fine. That Baldy Nosehair has painful defeats and crash landings all the time."

When his friends looked worried, Sonic gave them a confident smirk. "But the next time he attacks, I'll take on him! He'll think twice in hurting you guys and kidnapping your home!"

Before they could make any kind of response, the aliens then gave fearful cries which caught Sonic's attention. The teenager looked back to see the Nega-Mother Wisp reach out another tentacle for them, forcing Sonic and the Wisps to scream before the aliens flew away with their hedgehog friend, avoiding the corrupted giant alien and as far back from reach as possible.

"Whoa! That was close!" The hero of Mobius yelped with a sweat-drop. He flinched as the Nega-Mother Wisp roared again, seemingly deciding to ignore him and her own children and began to chomp and devour the elevator shaft and to his horror, beginning to reach out for Mobius, and if she succeeds, she will slowly but surely drag the other planets in as well...including her own home world.

It hadn't taken him long to figure that she was after Eggman or anything related to what has happened and now the Nega-Mother Wisp was going to get her revenge by taking everything out towards his home. Sonic's eyes widened as he felt his heart skip a beat, before they narrowed with determination. He then gazed at the aliens, seeing that they looked just as horrified as he felt. He then thought as quickly as he could, and while Eggman didn't get the chance to finish what he tried to tell him before the giant corrupted monster broke free, it hadn't taken Sonic long on what the evil man had meant.

In his own words, the reply to the teenager's question was yes, the power of the Chaos Emeralds will overcome the negativity of the Nega-Mother Wisp, but what worried Sonic was that there was a difference between defeating the negative energy of the Emerald's themselves after being used, and using the positive energy against the negative power of the Wisps. But as he closed his eyes to remain calm, his determination to still save the Universe and everyone else, to keep his promise to save Yacker's mother still burned strongly within his heart. So powerful that it drove away his fears, and he knew then that he had to at least try, and if he believed in all of his will power, he can accomplish this.

"#$%$#&$%$#!" Yacker cried out, turning to Sonic who, opening his eyes and quickly glanced at him, that the little alien was screaming away with a pleading look, and while he looked mournful with all hope of saving his mother lost, madly waved at her, then at the planets that were in danger of being destroyed.

Even without Tails' translator, the blue hedgehog knew what he was trying to say.

"You want me to stop her?" He asked, and the curl-headed Wisp nodded. The cobalt hedgehog frowned, but knew there and then that stopping her was the objective and nodded. "Well then, if you want me to stop her, I'll stop her! But I'm also gonna save her! I promise! I know what to do!"

Sonic turned his gaze at the Nega-Mother Wisp who was slowly eating away the elevator shaft, before telling his friends. "Guys, you gotta let me out of your sphere!"

"#%%$!?" The Wisps exclaimed in shock, wondering if he was crazy since if they stopped keeping him afloat, he'll fall. But he gave them a confident smirk.

"Don't worry, I'll be okay. You guys helped me with your positive energies through out this journey, and I can't thank you enough. Now, let me show you what I can do, and leave the rest to me!" Sonic told them, before simply floated and focused by closing his eyes.

As soon as he did, the Chaos Emeralds shone brightly and freed themselves from his quills, and as Yacker and the Wisps' eyes widened in awe, they somehow understood and reluctantly dismissed their power before carefully but quickly floating back away hoping for the best. Thankfully, the power of the Emeralds circled around the blue hedgehog who concentrated on absorbing their powers. He curled up slightly as the energy flowed into his body.

Sonic then burst into golden energy as he uncurled himself, his quills sticking up, his fur golden in colour with a glowing aura, and his eyes ruby red, having become Super Sonic once more. The aliens' eyes widened in awe at the astonishing event as the now golden hedgehog had burrowed the power of the Chaos Emeralds, and it was right there that Yacker remembered his friend tell him about using said power before in the past. The power that like the Hyper-Go-On, can be used for both good and/or evil.

And now Super Sonic was going to use it to stop the Nega-Mother Wisp.

Knowing what to do, and giving his friends a thumbs up, Super Sonic then flew straight towards the Nega-Mother Wisp who, unaware of the event even though she paused slightly when she felt a tingle of warm, unusual and powerful positive energy from close by, continued munching on the elevator shaft, slowly inching closer to Mobius. The golden hedgehog then hovered above her head in a safe distance and let out a loud whistle to get her attention.

"Hey!" Super Sonic called out to her. "Up here!"

The Nega-Mother Wisp stopped chewing up the elevator shaft, and hearing his whistle and voice, turned around to see the glowing golden hedgehog glaring back at her with great courage and determination, showing no fear at all.

"You hungry? How 'bout something more tasty and substantial, like me?" The hero of Mobius taunted, even though he hadn't meant to, he had to draw the corrupted giant alien away from the planets before he can fight her and free her from the negative energy. "Come and get it!"

She took the bait, and with a furious, destructive, and starving snarl as eating Eggman who was the cause for all of this as well as eating metal wasn't enough, because the teenage hedgehog seemed like a perfect meal for her as well.

"_**GRRRRRRRRRRRROOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAARRRR!**_" The Nega-Mother Wisp roared, and flew up towards him.

Super Sonic smirked before turning and quickly flew himself to lead the corrupted giant Wisp away from Mobius, Planet Wisps, Sweet Mountain, Aquarium Park, Starlight Carnival and Asteroid Coaster, giving the scared and worried Yacker and other Wisps a wink, and easily dodged the tentacles that the giant Wisp whipped in her attempts to try and catch him. Once he was certain that they were well away from the six planets, the golden hedgehog spun around and flew right past her in high speed in a trail of gold light before turning again and stopped, glaring up at her as the Nega-Mother Wisp turned with a furious frown, snarling darkly.

What happened next was the beginning of the ultimate real final battle. The Nega-Mother Wisp roared before spitting out multiple but small embers which as Super Sonic flew up towards her while dodging each one, they exploded behind him which made him mentally wince. He'd have to keep dodging them and avoid in getting hit as fast as he could. Then, as though deciding that she was to lure him into a trap of her own, she began flying away which made him grit his teeth in annoyance but went after her none the less. To make things more difficult, she then stopped this attack and then created a bunch of small asteroids similar to the ones in the last world he visited.

Seeing these made his eyes widen as an idea formed into his mind. The golden hedgehog smirked again, hoping that it would work.

"How about this, then!?" Super Sonic shouted, boosting into one of the asteroids really hard and sending it back to the Nega-Mother Wisp, hitting her left tentacle just as she reached out to try and surprise him, only to be surprised herself by his own attack. She roared in pain while withdrewing her tentacle arm. The golden hedgehog they then kept on flying while hitting as many asteroids as possible, and she attempted to repel back, Super Sonic was faster and managed to keep on hitting her until her own attack ran out.

When it seemed like she stopped moving and appeared to be dazed, he used this to his advantage and zoomed straight towards her with a battle-cry to hit her right above the mouth and into where the eyes should be. But as he did, to his shock it didn't do much damage and was sent backwards slightly. Crying out in alarm and being recoiled by his own attack as he spun out of control, Super Sonic quickly corrected his position and hovered in space with wide eyes before flying upward just in case she attacked up front.

"Man, she's got tough skin! Guess I'd better find her weak spot, quick." He thought to himself as he looked for the Nega-Mother Wisp's weakness. It wasn't until the eye-like gynoecium with the pink petals caught his attention. The golden hedgehog then wondered if maybe that was the weak spot. "Only one way to find out."

Super Sonic flew in quickly as the Nega-Mother Wisp recovered enough for her roots to shoot up to try and strike him, but he easily dodged by maneuvering out of the way and then with a yell he hit the eye hard. It worked and the giant corrupted alien roared in pure agony, recoiling downward while the teenage hedgehog flew up out of the way. As he did, he noticed one of the petals fall off and drift into space. This made him realize that if he can make all of the petals disappear, he may have a chance in using the power of positive energy to restore the giant Wisp to normal. He had to make it count and be careful at the same time.

Before the golden hedgehog could attack again, the Nega-Mother Wisp roared which made the same gust of wind as earlier, and Super Sonic tried to stop himself from being blown away, but was sent flying backwards and screamed once more far away from the corrupted alien. By the time the teenager regained his balance, he found himself back to where he started while his opponent fired more ember at him. Reacting quickly to avoid in getting hit, the young Mobian flew up towards her and flew past the fire attacks even though there were lots more than the last time.

"I gotta get back to that eye, fast!" Super Sonic grunted, only to gasp as the tentacles came flying at him and unharmed from the embers, forcing him to dive and fly high to avoid all of the attacks as well as the tentacles from grabbing him, or in this case, eating him since they both head mouths as well.

"Whoa! AH! WOAH!" He cried out while dodging as best as he could, trying really hard not to panic and focus. '_If I'm not careful, I'm hedgehog food!_'

By the time the embers were done, the tentacles almost engulfed him but the golden hedgehog easily dodged again before having another idea as he got closer. Hitting the asteroids to distract her as she roared in pain when her arms were hit repeatedly, Super Sonic managed to keep the arms away from him before flying as fast as he can with the Chaos Energy within him, flying around and around and around the Nega-Mother Wisp who was becoming more and more frustrated that she attempted on chomping him with her mouth, but repeatedly missed.

"I'm sorry! I don't mean to upset you, but I don't have a choice!" The teenage Mobian cried out to it, and while he didn't think that his voice could reach her yet, he had to at least try while he attempted to find a way to return her to normal.

She responded with a threatening growl, the negative emotions making the Nega-Mother Wisp want nothing more than revenge, destruction and everything and everything to devour and will not stop until she got it. The giant corrupted alien attempted to swipe at him with her lower tentacles, but the golden hedgehog flew up and hovered above her before he dove and hit the eye three times as hard as he could while she spun, the Wisp becoming dizzy and roaring in pain at the same time. When Super Sonic flew back up, three more petals were falling off and he attempted to quickly keep on going as he didn't want to hurt her anymore than he was forced to do.

However, the Nega-Mother Wisp, stopped spinning and began to recover but was just as furious now. She roared very loudly which sent out a huge surge of negative winds in every direction that the golden hedgehog had to stop what he was doing. He struggled against the gust while trying to prevent himself from being blown away again. When it seemed to have stopped and he managed to get a glimpse at the giant corrupted alien, Super Sonic gasped in shock as her tentacles seemed to glow with purple energy and she began swiping wildly while flying up straight towards him. This wasn't good at all.

"Uh, oh!" He yelped with a bit of fright, and flew back only to sense something behind him. The golden hedgehog looked over his shoulder and his eyes widened when a purple laser seemed to appear out of nowhere heading straight towards him. His heart hammering in growing panic while he tried to remain calm, Super Sonic flew out of the way only to be hit by a tentacle when the Nega-Mother Wisp successfully caught him off-guard.

The force of it knocked him back as he screamed out in pain and in alarm before righting himself again, hissing while placing a hand to his chest. Super Sonic was pretty certain he'll be having a bruise there for a while if he got out of this fight alive.

"Ow..." The golden hedgehog softly groaned, but as he looked up, his eyes widened as the Nega-Mother Wisp fired more ember and asteroids in her wake, forcing him to ignore his injury and fly forward and repeatedly dodge as best as he could, though it was getting more and more difficult as each fire and rock nearly got him quite a number of times, followed by another huge laser aimed at his direction.

As Super Sonic avoided that, he was unfortunately distracted enough for one or two embers to catch him off-guard and was hit hard which caused him to scream in pain at the burns that exploded twice. He nearly began to fell before quickly keeping himself afloat, though he could feel himself become increasingly exhausted and panted, holding his left shoulder that was injured, wincing. It didn't help that his battle against Eggman left him with very little time to recover for this fight and then he began to think that maybe he wouldn't be surviving this. His heart began to become filled with the dread and fear of dying today, but he forced himself to fight those feelings, knowing that he had to do this.

The giant corrupted alien roared as she dove straight towards the teenage hedgehog who saw that she had her mouth wide open and had somehow gotten really close enough that he realized, to his horror, she was going to eat him. Finding himself frozen as he gasped, unable to move out of the way in time as the gripping fear held him in place, his heart stopping for that split second.

Then, snapping out of his fearful daze and narrowing his eyes again, Super Sonic quickly flew up and away, narrowly avoiding in being engulfed just in time, right above the corrupted alien and dove right into the eye again, using his Super Spin Dash to attack the same way he did with Dark Gaia's three eyes, resulting the corrupted Wisp to roar in agony and shock, more and more petals falling off as a result with each attack.

By the time he flew back away as the giant monster nearly swiped him with her tentacles again, Super Sonic saw that he was almost there due to being only one petal left. With the second last hit, not only the Nega-Mother Wisp roared a scream, she also began jerking and flinching, and to his worry, coughing.

"Uh, oh...I hope I didn't hit her too hard in making her bleed." Super Sonic muttered to himself.

To his surprise and no small amount of disgust, as the Nega-Mother Wisp coughed, traces of saliva, and possibly vomit(which was making him feel sick in his own stomach), and even metal that she had swallowed up began flying out. Among them were five familiar robots, somehow all in one piece, screaming as they all went flying faster than even the golden hedgehog would. His eyes widened.

"Decoe, Becoe, Bokkun, Orbot and Cubot?" He blinked, stunned. When did they did eaten? Had they been swallowed up by the giant corrupted alien in Tropical Resort?

"HEEEEEEEELLLLLPPPP!" The five aforementioned robots screamed as they fell straight towards Mobius, vanishing from sight. Super Sonic sweat-dropped again, dumbfounded, before breaking the fourth-wall as he shrugged to the readers/viewers.

He then returned his gaze to the Nega-Mother Wisp, realizing that even as he was almost done with the battle, he was reaching dangerously close to his limit. He only have enough energy left to finish the battle since it had been long and hard, and his last battle exhausted him. It broke his heart knowing that the last of the Chaos Energy would leave him once he finished this battle, because after that, he wouldn't have any at all to get safely home.

"After I save Yacker's Mom, I won't have any strength left to get back. I'll never see my friends again...I guess...I guess going to Eggman's Amusement Park was a one-way trip for me. But hey, at least I can be proud to say that I saved not just my home, but other planets too, and saved the Universe. I got to explore new worlds no one in Mobius have even seen. Got to make friends with aliens that are super friendly and kind and darn cute." Super Sonic told himself as he watched the Nega-Mother Wisp howl in agony and slowly lose more sense in her already enraged and confused state. Tears began to fill his eyes and his heart aching.

But knew that in the end, he had to do this. For the sake of the Universe, for everyone...for his friends. His family. Super Sonic was gonna miss them, but he was very happy to have met them and have them in his life. The freedom he had in being able to run and go on adventures, whether it was solo or with company. Both occasions had been really fun. He loved his home and everybody in his life, and he will be watching over them once he was gone. The golden hedgehog just wished that he could properly say goodbye to them, to tell them everything he wanted to say with all of his heart.

'_This is it. Time to end this._' He thought to himself firmly, powering up as hard as he could with the last of his strength, his will power surging with the thoughts of everyone he loved, the world he was born in, and everything he went through. The teenage hero of Mobius had to make this count with one last attack, even as the Nega-Mother Wisp's eye began to glow in purple as well.

"YACKER'S MOM!" Super Sonic shouted to get her attention with great courage. "Everything's gonna be okay! I'm sorry that you had to suffer like this, that the evil man your kids call Bald Nosehair, who I know as Dr. Eggman, had kidnapped all of you and your home and being used to try and take over the Universe, and everything that's happened in the last few days. I'm really sorry that I didn't find you on time!"

The young Mobian focused hard on his power, while continuing to try and get his words through the corrupted giant alien who was slower in charging up her power as her eye began to glow and get bigger and bigger. He felt himself strained by powering up the last of his burrowed energy, but he ignored it.

"But if you just speak with your heart, if we can relate and communicate, then everything will be okay!" He continued, his golden aura glowing brighter as he charged up. "Don't let the negative energy consume you! Fight it with all the positivity that you still have within you! Think about your beautiful home, all of your children! Think about Yacker! He's been really worried about you, because he loves you! Just as much as you love them!"

The purple energy in the flower only grew as the Nega-Mother Wisp growled, yet Super Sonic's words seemed to have some effect, because the power was weavering and fading. She was slowing down, and deep inside her corrupted shell was the true Mother Wisp who, upon hearing him speak made a mental tear fall. All thoughts of everything she held dear was everything that the young hero had known.

"I promised to return you back to normal, to get you, Yacker and all of the other aliens back to your world so that you can be free again, and that's what I'm going to do! With all of my power!" Super Sonic declared boldly, glowing almost as bright as the sun. "Just hang in there, and I'll free you! Here comes SONIC!"

The Nega-Mother Wisp was about to fire when the golden hedgehog powered up and prepared to launch his final attack. As he did, he allowed a few tears fall free while thinking about the last time he ever saw his best friend/little brother.

'_Tails...I'm sorry. It looks like...I won't be able to see you back on the ground. Or go on another adventure with you like I promised. Heh...I guess...the Amusement Park is the closest we're gonna get. I love you, little buddy. I'll always be with you and everybody else...in your hearts. Sayonara, guys. I'll miss ya's._' The teenager thought, silently crying.

Yet he let a smile form before focusing back on his final task with a frown of determination.

"CHAOS CONTROL!" Super Sonic shouted, charging and diving straight towards the giant corrupted alien one more time and even as she fired her laser, he easily cut his way through the most powerful laser even as he grunted against the pressure but managed to dissipate it before boosting his way right into the eye with a shock-wave impact, the power of positive energy from his body spreading onto the giant alien who roared in pure agony with the last petal falling and disappearing.

The attack worked, as the golden hedgehog flew back away to a safe distance in pure exhaustion, while the Nega-Mother Wisp growled in pain and defeat. All of the negative energy that corrupted her began to seep out from her body, a bright light covering her body the same way as the other Nega-Wisps when they returned to normal. The light shone so brightly that Super Sonic had to shield his eyes before it eventually faded. As he weakly looked up panting as he had reached his limit, and while it wouldn't be enough to kill him, he wouldn't have any left to fly back, and would be fated to be floating lost forever in space, which he accepted without any regret.

When the light faded, the Nega-Mother Wisp was gone. The true Mother Wisp had been restored to her true form, a giant pink Wisp with heaps of tentacles, two blue fluffs on her torso, three eyes and lots of antennas on top of her head. She looked a bit tired, but none the less fully restored and much more gentle, all of the negative thoughts gone. In Super Sonic's opinion, she definitely looked like a mother.

He managed to smile in victory and relief as he panted, and while he still had some energy left to stay conscious, the young hedgehog groaned as he began to fall backwards and willingly closed his eyes tiredly to accept his fate with a sad but peaceful smile, the the power of the Chaos Emeralds left him, returning him back to normal, blue fur and all. But as Sonic fell, the Mother Wisp, seeing how he had almost sacrificed himself to save her children and home, and had risked his own life to restore her to normal, flew over quickly to catch him, wrapping one of her giant tentacles around his waist.

"Huh!?" Sonic cried out, as the feeling of being caught made him snap his restored emerald eyes open, and gasped as he realized that the giant alien had done this, and yelped when she gently held him, lifting him half way to her face. Being this close to a giant alien whom he had just fought and saved made him nervous, gulping while afraid that she would still be mad at him despite no longer having any negative energy within her.

"Uh...Hi, Yacker's Mom, ma'am." The blue hedgehog smiled weakly with a small wave. The giant alien gazed at him with a look of guilt in her eyes, her heart nearly breaking for everything this small, gentle, brave, strong and caring young Mobian had gone through for not just her sake, but also for the sake of her Wisp children. The Mother Wisp felt terrible for the near destruction she'd caused in her enraged state, yet Sonic the Hedgehog was brave enough to confront her and use his own power to restore her back to normal, and to save the Universe.

"$%#$%$%#..." She muttered in Wisp language, as though sympathized with the cobalt hedgehog, carefully caressing him on the head with another tentacle as the nervous teenager blinked in surprise at the gentle touch. A young stranger who had gone out of his way to do the right thing. The complete opposite of the man whom had caused such near disaster.

"H-hey! That tickles!" Sonic laughed when she caressed his face and chest. He then realized that she was not only attempting to apologize for what has happened, seeing the guilt in her eyes which ached his own heart and smiled warmly, feeling more relaxed once he saw that she was just as gentle as her children.

"#$%#!" A smaller Wisp's voice cried out from the distance, causing the giant pink alien and the blue hedgehog to look up and saw, to their happiness and relief, and Sonic's great surprise, was Yacker who, along with thousands and thousands of aliens who had been freed, fly over towards her and Sonic. The smaller Wisps hovered around her, before they saw the that the blue hedgehog was safe. They all cheered in relief and began circling and hugging him as well, Yacker being the first which made him laugh once more.

"Aw, Yacker! It's okay." Sonic beamed, hugging his friends back while the giant alien seemed to beam a smile. She then gestured her children to follow her as she hovered towards the six planets, mainly to Mobius. Yacker and the other Wisps, while the blue hedgehog noticed. He then realized that they were taking him home back to his planet.

He looked up at the aliens' mother who gave him a reassuring look in her eyes.

"Glad to see that you're okay now." He said, scratching the back of his head, acknowledging that he was currently trapped in the grasp of the Mother Wisp's tentacle and didn't want to make her any more mad than she had been. "I'm sorry that I had to fight you, it was the only way to turn you back to normal."

The Mother Wisp shook her head, as though understanding, carefully holding out her other tentacle in front of him. At first confused, the blue hedgehog then realized that she was thanking him for saving her, and he smiled, shaking it with both his hands.

"I wish I could understand you, but you're saying thank you, right?" Sonic said, and the Mother Wisp nodded, to which he smiled with a nod of his own. "Well then, you're welcome, and thank you for saving me. Didn't think I was ever gonna make it home, to be honest. You didn't have to."

Yacker's Mother blushed red in the face considering that like the Spike Wisps she was pink. However, just as they reached the same spot as where Eggman's Incredible Interstellar Amusement Park was when they heard a loud, dreaded sound behind them. Turning around in alarm, Sonic and all of the aliens held horrified expressions as the released negative energy from the Mother Wisp, seemingly with a will of it's own, began to form into a large purple implosion, in the size of a black hole.

"Oh, come on! You gotta be kidding me!" The blue hedgehog cried out, horrified that he didn't have enough strength left to use the Chaos Emeralds again in order to stop this. "What're we gonna do!?"

The Mother Wisp, Yacker and the other aliens, gazing at all of the worlds including both their own and Mobius, and then at the hedgehog still in the female alien's tentacle, all shared a glance and nodded. Through their own communication, the alien mother gestured Yacker and some of the aliens to take Sonic back to his home planet. Yacker nodded and gestured some of his brothers to help him.

"Hey, what're you-!?" Sonic exclaimed, yelping as the mother alien gently let the teenage hero go and letting them use their powers once more, carrying him away while the rest of the aliens turned their attention back to the implosion, much to his horror. "Wait! Nooooo!"

"$#$%$%&%!" The Mother Wisp exclaimed with determination as she and the rest of the gathered Wisps, despite having only just returned to normal, began to glow brightly in colours as they all began to use their powers to block and hold back the forming void that threatened to swallow up everything.

"Yacker! We gotta-" The blue hedgehog desperately cried out, only to see Yacker's reassuring gaze which made him cut himself off. As they began reaching Mobius, a tensed silence followed before he asked softly. "Sure they're gonna be okay?"

The curl-headed alien nodded, and while Sonic still felt uncertain, he looked over his shoulder and his eyes widened as he then saw thousands more aliens, most whom he hasn't seen before appear to help the Mother Wisp to block the forming implosion. It was then he realized that, in gratitude of him for saving them and the worlds including his own, they were going to do the same thing with all their power. In the end, he would have to put his trust in them and nodded to the aliens that were taking him to safety.

The Wisps carried Sonic all the way back to just behind the small hill where he and Tails had spotted the elevator shaft which was now just a broken building reaching to nothing, and dismissed their magical sphere that protected him, using some of their Hyper-Go-On energy to heal most of his injuries. They gently set him down as he found himself standing on the ground, wobbled a bit and leaned foward, his hands on his knees as he panted, only realizing now just how exhausted he was.

Yacker and the aliens hovered away a bit to give the blue hedgehog some space to fully recover, and he looked around with his eyes to see that he was, much to his happiness and relief, back on his home planet, thanks to his new friends and that he managed to keep to his promises after all.

'_...I'm home. Back on Mobius._' Sonic thought to himself happily, as he managed to fight back the urge to simply cry in joy, and instead smiled at the Wisps with a thumbs up. He still couldn't believe that they and their mother went out of their way save him. '_Heh, guess we really _do_ have a lot in common._'

"Sonic!"

Blinking and almost instantly his strength returning to him, the blue hedgehog looked up to see Tails fly over towards him with a very relieved expression as fast as he could, utterly happy that his best friend/big brother was safe and sound. Sonic shared that feeling, because seeing his little brother safe as well really had him in tears.

"Hey!" He called back, waving happily. The blue hedgehog waited impatiently as the two-tailed fox landed in front of him and jumped into his arms, nearly toppling the teenager over, but he hugged the eight year old back none the less. The two reunited adoptive brothers laughed emotionally with tears leaking in their eyes. Sonic never felt so happy in his life like he was now, not wanting to let go of his sweet little brother, almost crying as he gently kissed Tails on the head again.

"Oh, Tails..." Sonic whispered softly. '_I thought I'd never see you again._' He wanted to say, but decided against it. When Tails started crying in happiness, his tears soaking the hedgehog's chest, the latter simply rubbed the back of the young kit's head.

"You're back...!" The eight year old sobbed.

"Shhhhh...shhhhh...It's okay, li'l bro. Everything's okay." The fifteen year old soothed comfortingly, holding back his tears. They stayed like this for another moment before reluctantly let go, beaming smiles at one another.

"Are you okay!? Man, I can't believe you made it through that!" Tails exclaimed, wiping away his tears.

"You thought I wouldn't?" Sonic asked jokingly, giving him a wink and smirk.

His best friend shook his head, rubbing the back of his head. "The only thing I was thinking about was getting pushed into an elevator."

"A hedgehog's gotta do what a hedgehog's gotta do." The blue hedgehog replied, rubbing his nose. Before Tails could say anything, the teenager held out his fist, which he smiled happily even further, the two sharing a bro-fist.

"Great job, Sonic." Tails praised.

Sonic smirked. "Thanks. Though I had a little help during the last parts. First with Yacker and the aliens helping me with Eggman, and then the Chaos Emeralds in saving their Mom."

"Huh? Eggman had the Chaos Emeralds?" The two-tailed fox asked, shocked and surprised.

"Yeah, to both try and get rid of me and, well...to hold her back since she went all crazy and, I guess he kinda figured that I'd be able to turn her back to normal, even if he didn't want that to happen." He replied, scratching the back of his head.

"Speaking of Eggman, where is he?"

"Last I saw him, he fell straight back here somewhere, and so did those five robots of his." Sonic answered, shrugging. "You know that guy, he's one tough egg to crack open. He'll be fine."

"Do you think he'll twice in doing this again?" Tails asked worriedly. "He'll be back with another scheme."

"Don't worry, li'l bro. We'll handle him, because _I'll_ handle him. It'll take more than Eggman to get rid of me!" The blue hedgehog reassured confidently, which made his adoptive little brother smile. The two then gazed at the sky as Yacker and the other Wisps had quickly gone back to help their mother and the rest of the aliens to hold back the black hole that was forming but thankfully beginning to disappear.

The curl-headed Wisp and his mother, using their powers to gather the now freed Hyper-Go-On since Eggman's Nega-Wisp Armor was destroyed, and turned the rest of the Nega-Wisps back to normal before they all banded together. With their great powers, the implosion that was the size of the Mother Wisp was gone before it could fully be formed.

Before Sonic could say anything, the two Mobians heard a familiar girl's voice calling out Sonic's name, making the blue hedgehog flinch, his quills sticking up and making him stand on the tips of his shoes once again before they looked over their shoulders to see, not just Amy who was charging straight them happily, but to their surprise, Cream and Cheese, Shadow and Omega(which made Sonic relieved that they made it out before the destruction happened), and surprisingly both Knuckles and Rouge who came at them unhurryingly.

"Oh, Sonic! You're okay!" Amy exclaimed happily, nearly glomping Sonic over as she hugged him tightly before he could make a run for it.

"Whoa! A-Amy! N-Not so tight, please! You're crushing me here!" The blue hedgehog struggled to push her back, even though he was happy to see her and everyone else again. To his relief, she loosened her grip on him, though she did snuggle her head against his chest.

"My sweet, brave hero! I knew you'd come back safe and sound!" The pink hedgehog hummed happily, her eyes leaking with tears.

"I'm not surprised to see you and cutie-Tails still alive and kicking, big blue. Had any trouble getting back?" Rouge asked, smirking.

Sonic smirked back. "Well, sort of. All things considered, everything's back to normal. Better even."

"What're you guys doing here?" Tails asked, curiously.

"I was heading back to Angel Island after spending hours trying to find her and having spend the night at Tropical Resort, when I saw the entire Amusement Park begin to explode and a huge monster appear. Then I saw Sonic having used the Chaos Emeralds to chase it away, so I came here to see if he made it." Knuckles explained.

"Which he is." Shadow scoffed, rolling his eyes. "Omega and I weren't back here for even ten minutes before the whole place began breaking down. Care to explain why?"

"Long story." The blue hedgehog shrugged, adding as Amy finally let him go. "All in all, I turned Yacker's Mom back to normal and, given that huge black hole from the negative energy, I think it was the same that I freed her from with the Chaos Emeralds, which is also part of said story."

"Mr. Yacker's Mother was that monster?" Cream asked curiously, surprised, and she wasn't the only one. Amy, Knuckles, Shadow and Rouge held stunned expressions while Omega held a look as though he was blinking in surprise and confusion.

"Sounds like it's a very long story." Amy remarked, and both Sonic and Tails nodded in agreement.

Sonic then turned to Knuckles and couldn't help but tease. "Were you worried that I'd end up a goner?"

"Hey, I told you yesterday. I'd never forgive myself if anything happened to you." The red echidna replied with a smirk, before quickly adding. "But I knew that you'd be fine. As always."

"Awwww...Just admit it, Knuckie. You were worried about big blue." Rouge teasingly cooed with a giggle, which made Amy, Cream, and Tails giggle while Sonic covered his mouth to stop himself from bursting into a hysterical laughter. Cheese giggled while Shadow just rolled his eyes at the scene.

"HEY!" Knuckles protested, his muzzle glowing pink in embarrassment, and blurted out without thinking. "I was not worried! And don't think you're off the hook, you batty thief! You still owe me for that letter you sent!"

"_You_ tricked Knuckles to go to the Amusement Park?" Amy asked, her eyes wide in disbelief, before giggling even further. "And here I thought it was Eggman, given on what you said about spending the night at Tropical Resort."

Then realizing what she said, the pink hedgehog turned to her 'boyfriend' and asked with some hope. "Speaking of which, did you give him the clobbering he deserved?"

"I gave him a ten-time clobbering and then some, and hey, if he does show up again soon, since I have no idea where he ended up crash landing this time, I wanna be there when you guys give him each clobbering of your own." Sonic grinned, before hearing a tinkering sound and looked up behind him as he and the others saw Yacker fly back down towards them. The cute little alien, to which Amy and Cream both cooed at just how adorable he was, looked so happy that it was contagious and Sonic and most of his friends found themselves smiling.

While Sonic had a feeling he knew what Yacker was saying, Tails had pulled out his translator and read on what the cutest Wisp was saying, translating to everyone, mainly to the blue hedgehog. "Uh, he said _'Thank you for saving us and Mama.'_"

"Mama?" Rouge and Shadow chorused in surprise, the latter having raised an eyebrow.

"He think he means Yacker's mother." Amy whispered in her attempt to explain.

"You're welcome." Sonic replied to Yacker with a grin and a bow, before replying. "Thank YOU for saving us!"

Yacker waved a tentacle as he responded in Wisp language, which Tails translated, for once very clearly this time. "He says _'You are welcome'_."

"That thing's translating pretty well." The blue hedgehog remarked, amazed that it didn't sound silly or in gibberish this time.

The two-tailed fox nodded happily as he explained, "Yeah, I finally got all the kinks out. We can talk to them perfectly now."

"It's really nice to meet you, Yacker. I'm Amy Rose." Amy spoke up smiling brightly.

"My name is Cream, and this is my friend Cheese the Chao." Cream introduced herself, and Cheese squealed happily. She then introduced the others. "And they're Knuckles, Shadow, Rouge and Omega."

"Yeah, we already met." Knuckles pointed out with folded arms, while Rouge gave her own hello, Omega said his greetings, and Shadow simply shrugged with a soft 'Hi', which had Sonic roll his eyes at the ultimate lifeform's way of greeting but said nothing and just smiled.

After Tails translated Yacker's friendly greeting to those the latter hasn't met yet, the little alien then explained something else to which the two-tailed fox translated to Sonic. "Yacker says that _'Mama asked me to thank you for her, and that she was worried when our planets were pulled away after Baldy Nosehair appeared'_."

Amy and Cream both giggled at the mention of Eggman's newest nickname, while Rouge laughed, Shadow smirked in amusement and Knuckles went into a hysterical laughter, with the pink hedgehog breathing. "I-I still can't get over just how funny that new name for Eggman is...Ha ha ha!"

"I wish you could've seen his face when I called him Baldy McNosehair as I fought him! Ha ha ha ha ha ha!" Sonic laughed while Tails giggled. "It was awesome!"

"A-anyway," Amy giggled as she and everyone else began to settle down, smiling warmly. "You really have a nice mother, Yacker."

"Just like my mother." Cream added happily.

Yacker blushed, before saying something again.

"Whoa...! He says that _'Mama gave us life and raised us. She even made the planet we live on'_." Tails translated in awe, which shocked and amazed Sonic and everyone, glancing up at Yacker while the blue hedgehog glanced back and forth between the small alien and up to where Mother Wisp, who by now was hovering patiently and in a safe distant to avoid in being seen by the rest of Mobius, was waiting with the rest of the Wisps, and then back to Yacker.

"No way!" Knuckles exclaimed in disbelief.

"Wow! A whole planet!?" Amy exclaimed in awe.

"Whoa...What a feat." Sonic remarked with wide eyes, blinking. He then said to Yacker with a sweat-drop. "You'd better not do anything to get on her bad side."

"You can say that again." Rouge muttered under her breath, almost speechless herself. "Colour me impressed, 'cause that's one strong and loving mother."

Even Shadow was surprised. "Unbelievable. She is incredible."

Yacker chirped again and whirled around, gesturing up at his mother, family and even his home along with the other four planets were peacefully floating. Seeing this made Sonic feel sad as he knew what this meant. Deep down he knew that the time has come, but in the end, it was for the best. He'll deeply miss Yacker, especially having almost lost him forever, but he was happy that the curl-headed alien along with the rest were finally safe and free.

"Oh great." Tails groaned in sadness. "He says, _'I won't. Mama and I have to go now. Goodbye my friends'_."

"Awwww. Already?" Cream sighed, sad and disappointed.

"Chao..." Cheese moaned in sadness.

"Oh, we only just met." Amy echoed.

"Just when I got this thing working." The two-tailed fox sighed while gazing at his machine.

Sonic shrugged sadly, but he assured his friends. "Better late than never in both occasions, buddy."

"He has a point. They have to go home sooner or later." Knuckles agreed, even though he wished he could've gotten to know the Wisps a bit better. Shadow and Rouge both nodded, while Omega responded by his usual '**Affirmative**'.

"Hey, could ya' tell your Mom that I said thank you again to her for me?" The blue hedgehog asked Yacker, who nodded and no one needed the translator to say that he will tell his mother. The cute alien held a very emotional look as even he knew that the time has come to part ways. Sonic smiled emotionally and held up his hands warmly, and Yacker immediately flew into his arms for a final embrace. Tails joined in as the three friends shared their last group hug with tears leaking in their eyes, and the other Mobians held different reactions but all smiled none the less. Amy and Cream both looked ready to cry, Rouge wiped away a tear, Knuckles sighed and tried not to shed a tear, even Shadow's expression softened.

"We'll miss you, buddy. But we'll always be friends. Remember that." Sonic whispered to the curl-headed Wisp.

"Don't forget about us, okay?" Tails added, sniffling.

They stayed like this until the trio reluctantly let go with emotional smiles, before Wisp then held up his arm, and while everyone else looked confused, Sonic knew what this mean and cheered with a wide smile.

"Right on!" He cheered and jumped into the air, happily giving Yacker a high-five, and Tails, seeing this did the same with the cute alien who giggled. Everyone else smiled happily(except Shadow who simply smirked, Rouge who folded her arms with a smile, and Omega who stood there) before the two young heroes landed on the ground and the Wisp flew around them squealing, shaking hands with Cheese who beamed happily, and they each gave their goodbyes to the little aliens.

"You take care, Yacker." The blue hedgehog told his alien friend with a smile. "Make sure you and Mom don't get separated again, 'kay?"

Yacker nodded and with a single tear formed in his eye, waved a goodbye for the final time to Sonic and Tails, and to their friends before he flew back up to reunite with his mother and family. The Mobians back in their world watched as the Wisps, including the Mother Wisp who waved a goodbye to the young heroes who have saved them all, flew back to their home planet before they all used their powers to not just magically transport Planet Wisp back to where it came from, but also Sweet Mountain, Starlight Carnival, Aquarium Park and Asteroid Coaster back to their places and galaxies in the Universe, vanishing from sight.

Sonic and his friends, while saddened to see the aliens off, all smiled in relief and happiness as peace as finally been restored. Not just to the five planets that have gone through so much, but their own as well. The blue hedgehog gazed at the sky with a content expression on his face, before blinking in confusion as something caught his eye. For a split second, he saw the familiar pixie-thing, faintly floating who gave him a wave and a smile before vanishing from sight, to which he realized for the final time.

Sonic was surprised to have seen what he thought was a hallucination of Chip, but then smiled as he knew, right there and then, that he was finally healed from within. While he still had to fight Eggman again in the near future, he will get stronger and better to avoid in his enemy being stronger than him. All in all, the blue hedgehog conquered his own fears and doubt from the last two months. He, with the help of his friends, saved the Universe from devastation. Yacker was finally reunited with his mother, and had returned home.

'_Thank you, Chip. Even though you weren't really there, you guided me along with my friends. And Yacker...I'll never forget you. I'll always be with you, reaching out for the stars._' Sonic thought to himself as he smiled warmly, feeling true peace and a new sense of freedom.

"Sonic. Are you okay?" Tails asked, tugging the cuff of his best friend's glove as he and the others noticed the blue hedgehog's silence.

"Yeah, I'm fine." Sonic replied, smiling down at his little brother. "Guess I was...speaking with my heart."

His friends all looked confused by this statement, but all smiled as the blue hedgehog chuckled, giving them a thumbs up and a wink. He had a lot to tell them, and he really couldn't wait to share his and Tails' story of their adventure before Sonic and everyone else returned their gaze to the sky, as the day was slowly coming to an end.

With a new one on the horizon, for a brighter day.

* * *

Meanwhile, hours later somewhere in the ocean, Eggman was stomping on the sand of a very small island no bigger than someone's Living Room impatiently as the company of of five useless robots he wanted to be with right now were busy attempting to fix up his broken Egg Mobile.

"Faster, you idiots! Faster!" Eggman shouted at his minions Decoe, Becoe, Bokkun, Orbot and Cubot who, after being ejected from the Nega-Mother Wisp's stomach, had also crashed into the same deserted island as he did. "Put your backsides into it!"

"E-easier said than...done, doctor." Becoe panted, wiping his head due to the intense heat shining from the sun, holding a wrench in another hand. "I'm being baked here."

"And Technically, we don't have backsides, boss." Orbot piped up, not even making the effort in pushing the evil scientist's ride.

"I'm exhausted..." Decoe complained, feeling a strain in his metal parts. "I wanna go home..."

Bokkun groaned as he could barely fly himself, whining. "Ooooh! I think I pulled a joint in my back, and my arms are killing me."

That really didn't put Eggman in any better mood as he shouted angrily at them. "I don't care! Quit complaining and keep working! I already planning out my next revenge! Not sure what I will come up next, but I will think of something, and next time, I will NOT fail!"

"Of course you won't, boss. Of course you won't." Orbot praised as convincingly as possible, even though almost everyone else knew that he was being just as sarcastic as ever. The only one not really doing anything other than the red robot was Cubot who, while attempting to fix the Egg Mobile as well, was thinking more about how his voice has returned to him.

"I feel like my old self again! All I wanna do is talk, talk, TALK!" The yellow cube-shaped robot exclaimed happily, before asking his fellow robots. "Hey, remember when we were chasing those alien guys? What's up with those guys, anyway? They sure were funny looking. Smelled good, though."

"You can't smell anything! You can't even taste or even open your mouth!" Bokkun angrily pointed out, which was only annoying their creator to the point of hopeless and dismay.

"Ugh..." Eggman complained as he gazed up at the sky in frustration, silently pleading to himself. "What I wouldn't give for the maddening silence of a beach about now."

All the while Cubot continued rambling on and on and on ad nauseam as the other robots just listened and pushed, with the first three groaning in dismay with sweatdrops, mentally wishing for their stupidest companion to simply shut up, and Orbot simply just leaned and hovered against the Egg Mobile without a care in the world.

Just then, there was a sound of a musical moan that made Eggman and his robots, including Cubot who stopped talking upon hearing the noise, stop what they were doing and looked around for the source. As they did, something very large emerged from the water which caused a tidal wave that made them scream before being washed off the small island and into the ocean. The evil villain resurfaced while Decoe, Becoe, Bokkun, Orbot and Cubot held onto the Egg Mobile which also floated on the surface.

As the scientist spat out the salty water before coughing to catch his breath, soaking wet, he and his worthless companions looked up to see a huge grey whale loom over them, a belgua whale that seemed to be a rare kind, huge like the one that Sonic befriended, but unlike the one that helped the blue hedgehog, this one didn't look friendly at all. If anything, this one looked grumpy...and hungry.

"Oh, no...! How much worse can this get...!" Eggman whimpered fearfully, while his robots shook in fear.

"M-Maybe he just wants to play...?" Decoe shivered.

"N-Nice big Whale...!" Becoe gulped nervously, trying to sound friendly.

"Um, boss? May I suggest we make a run for it?" Orbot asked, nervously.

"I vote for that...!" Bokkun whimpered.

Cubot nodded in agreement. "So do I!"

The grey Whale leered at them and began opening it's mouth, to which Eggman and his robot minions realized that it was going to eat them. They screamed loudly in panic before the evil man swam towards his Mobile, the robots opening the hatch and just as he climbed in and slammed it shut.

"Push, you useless pieces of metal! PUSH!" He yelled at them hysterically, not intending on becoming fish food.

"WAAAAAHHH!" The robots screamed while pushing and swimming as fast as they could as far away from the pursuing whale who chased after them. They all then ended up flying in the air as another huge wave flipped them up sky-high, and while to it's annoyance and their relief that they flew so high that it couldn't reach them even by jumping out of the water, they were now about to crash somewhere else.

"HELP!" Eggman, Decoe, Becoe, Bokkun, Orbot and Cubot screamed hysterically, vanishing into the sky.

Even though Eggman will be back for another evil plot, for now things were calm and peaceful once again for Sonic the Hedgehog and his friends, as this journey was over, but for the young hero of Mobius, another was about to begin.

**THE END**

**...Of the Alternate Ending.**

* * *

**A/N: I don't know if I should also be considering a sequel to this Alternate Ending, but eventually when I'm either done with Sonic and the Werehog, or with another fanfic I've been dying to begin since late last year, sequels to the Epilogue chapter may be planned out once I get it right.**

**Unfortunately, I will not be doing any fanfics of Sonic Lost World or Sonic Forces, but fanfic adaptions of the first two games and/or Sonic Adventure could be made a reality someday. Hard to say.**

**Again, thank you for liking this story, and I promise I will try to make Sonic and the Werehog better when I update it again soon. See you later, everyone!**


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